Blood On The Walls
by The . L O S T . Paperclip
Summary: They are trapped in a deteriorating city, plagued by the voices that make them who they are. No one is safe, in body or in mind, from the pain they inflict. There is no escape from this nightmare that haunts them all... It is kill or be killed now.
1. Prologue

**Part 1: Blood On The Walls**

_This is my first fanfiction of any description, so constructive criticism is welcome. I am always looking for ways to improve my writing._

_Disclaimer:__ I'm only saying this once: I am not Johnen Vasquez *gasp* therefore I do not own JtHM. Shocking, I know. But, to give you peace of mind, if I did own the comic, I would (unintentionally) destroy it with poor dialogue and unoriginal plotlines. Vasquez is the only sentient being on Earth (human or otherwise - it's really none of your buisness) that is capable of creating such an intricate mix of graphic violence and completely understandable logic and philosophy. Seriously, I am not him. Hell, I'm not even male. I think that disclaimer was long enough to last the entire story, don't you?_

_The rest of the fic is in third person; if you really don't like it, you can skpi this chapter._

**Chapter 1: Prologue**

Him:

I was human once. But not any more. Not after what I've done.

Happy. Innocent. Sane. I used to be a lot of things... all of which are beyond my reach now. I cannot become what I used to be. Not since the Voice appeared.

I am plagued with an insatiable hunger for death. This cloud of hate and despair looms over me, unrelenting, waiting for me to snap... To stop fighting it. To give in. The walls whisper to me...

It drives me to madness, this need for pain and blood. And all I can do is sit back and watch my reality unravel around me. I am forced to let every last thread of my sanity fall away.

_I have to let go..._

_I have to let go..._

I have to let it go. I have to relinquish control of my own mind to be able to endure the eternity that awaits me. I have no choice.

But I don't think it's possible for me to give in. I can't simply let it take over me. It needs me to complete the task I was set... The task I was given the moment he died. It waited until I was capable of completing the task. It is mine and mine alone... There is no other way. It needs power... It needs blood...

And I am required to give it what it wants. I have to become what it wants me to become in order for it to rise again... In order for me to live... again.

_I have to let go..._

Is my life really worth it? After all I have done? The pain I have inflicted, the blood I have shed? ... The people I have killed?

_Let it go..._

I used to think I would get my happily ever after. I used to think I deserved a happy ending. But, after all I have endured and all I am guaranteed to endure in the future, I can say this. And I can say it truthfully.

There is no such thing as 'Happily Ever After'.

_Let go._

_Let go of what I was, and embrace what I have become._

-X-

Her:

Darkness; swirling, cold, heavy. I didn't know how I got there, and I didn't know why. I didn't know where _there _was. I didn't even know who I was.

I still don't know.

Disoriented... It's scary, how quickly your life can change. Terrifying when you don't know.

But... I found a spark. My warmth in the cold, my light in the dark. It was all I knew...

I still know nothing but that spark. I need it... I will protect it with my life.

But the spark... _my_ spark... has a dark interior. It is dead from the core, and I know...

All I know is that I must make it live again. That is what I have to do; the task I was set. I have to keep the spark burning brightly...

Nothing else matters. Not even my life... Just the spark.

And if my spark were to snuff out?

Dark, cold and heavy. The Voice tried its hardest, but it could not save me if my spark were to disappear.

Nothing would.


	2. Dear Diary

_Sorry, but I have no idea when it was set, so I'm guessing here. Enjoy this horrible excuse of a fanfic._

**Chapter 2: Dear Die-ary**

_June 12, 1997_

_Dear Die-ary,_

_I'm leaving. I can't say where to, or why. Not really. I have decided to leave my old life behind and let fate take me to my next destination. I can't say what will happen to me on my journey, if I will change for the better or worse, or not change at all. Because I really don't know. All I can say is that I won't be returning any time soon. So I leave whoever finds my empty house this diary, and a can of Skettios. They should be... Shit, I can't find them. In that case, DON'T TOUCH MY STUFF!!_

_And goodbye._

_Johnny C._

-X-

_August 5, 1998_

_Dear Diary,_

_I was let out of the Defective Head Meats Institute not long ago because they said I was a lost cause and should be left to rot in peace. I didn't like it there... There were a lot of scary people and the nurses weren't nice to me at all. I came back home and noticed that the scary neighbor man wasn't visiting me anymore... I went to his house and found this diary, and all his stuff was still there. But he wasn't. I should be glad he's gone, but I'm not. He was scary, and he stabbed Shmee. On more than one occasion... But I'm not scared. I won't be scared any more. At least, I'll try... And I promise I didn't touch his stuff!!!_

_Squee._

-X-

_January 12, 2002_

_Dear Die-ary_

_I laugh at how bad my handwriting was when I last wrote in this. It's been years... I don't remember Nny as a person, except that he despised humans in general and killed a lot of them, but I can never forget the lessons I learned. I realise now how much he taught me during our brief time together. He showed me how disgusting the world is, and I don't want to lose that sight. It is the only thing that keeps me from drowning in this sea of unfriendly faces and overpriced fashions. I'm glad I'm different, and I can thank my overly traumatic childhood and my old neighbor for that._

_Todd C._

-X-

_September 2, 2004_

_Dear Die-ary_

_Today the nurses from the Defective Head Meats Institute came looking for me. I have no idea why, but I don't want to go back there, so I hid in my neighbor's old house. No one wants to buy it for some reason. Anyway, when I was in there, I found a door to a staircase that went down as far as I could see. It smelled rotten and musty down there, and the shadows looked like they were moving._

_I ran straight back out of the house after that. The Institute nurses didn't see me sneak back into my room and my mother unwittingly let me off the hook by saying she didn't know me. I don't think I'll be going into that house again. It had Death written all over it._

_Todd C._

-X-

_April 21, 2005_

_Dear Die-ary_

_Shmee started talking to me again. I found him with this diary under my bed. I have to admit that I was shocked. I mean, I thought Shmee's voice was merely a figment of my disturbed imagination when I was little... I guess not. Anyway, he argues with me a lot. We seem to have __extremely__ different views on life... I think people should be ignored while he thinks they should be burned. Huh. Some voice of reason... I guess __some__ might deserve it, but the rest? They're too caught up in making everyone else feel bad to realise their own flaws. I couldn't take Nny's way out and kill them, but in my opinion, letting them live their petty lives is enough punishment._

_There have been a few mysterious disappearances on the news. No bodies have been found yet, and I don't think they will, but they keep looking. Probably trying to find another serial killer to bring up the ratings for the show. Blood on the concrete and an unreliable source is enough to send the media into a frenzy, these days. It's funny how they didn't really care eight years ago._

_Todd C._

-X-

_August 5, 2006_

_Dear Die-ary_

_I really, __really__ hate Shmee at the moment. He's continuously telling me to kill people or burn something. I've learned to drown it out, though. Stupid bear... But the thing is, I can't throw him out. Not because I don't want to, or because someone won't let me. It's because he KEEPS COMING BACK!! I threw him in the trash after he got ripped to pieces by a cat... do you know how creepy it is to wake up with a mauled teddy bear sitting at the end of your bed, grinning at you like it was possessed? Well, for all I know, Shmee probably is possessed. Lucky me. I'm still shuddering. If he's going to stay, can't he at least have the decency to shut the hell up?_

_Anyway, I read through some of Nny's old diary entries and I wonder how he wrote one in particular. 'Dear Die-ary, I seem to be dead.' How could he write that if he was dead? Well, it could be a metaphor... but the blood on the page kinda ruled that one out. Oh well. If I remember correctly, Nny was always one to be, well, creepy and unexpected. Too bad that's all I can remember about him._

_I think I'll keep the diary this time. It's a little bit of the past that I can't afford to forget._

_Todd C._

-X-

_October 12, 2006_

_Dear Die-ary_

_Okay, I admit that I lost the diary again. But the fact that I found it in months, not years, has to count for something. There was a blackout about an hour ago, and the lights still haven't come on yet. I found this thing when I was looking for candles. Now Shmee is on about the apocalypse and a greater force in play, but it's always the apocalypse with him. Okay, it's a bit unfair for me not to mention the slight earth tremor and the rain stopping, but really, that could be anything._

_Notice me trying to convince myself that it's true? Well, I know this isn't an ordinary blackout, but it'll be fixed by morning, like always. I hope._

_Tood C._

-X-

Todd Casil slammed the diary closed and chewed on his distressed pen, frustrated. That journal always made him remember how traumatised he was as a child, and it wasn't one of his most pleasant memories. In fact, Todd didn't have many pleasant memories at all. He had no friends. His parents despised him. His _teddy bear_ wanted him to destroy everything around him.

In a failed attempt to thing of something more pleasant, he traced the marks in the desk with his eyes, trying to refrain from looking into the small, dirty mirror sitting on the side. He wondered why he even owned a mirror; appearance was one of the last things he cared about. But, as if his eyes did this to spite him, he stared at the reflection and his thoughts drifted to how he managed to become so malnourished and pale . . . and empty. The wide, dark brown eyes of the boy staring back at him seemed devoid of life. There was none of the fire that usually resides in one's soul; there was only a dulled throbbing of what was left of the pain.

Todd's black hair fell into his eyes as he stood quickly. Draped over his tall, wiry frame was a long black coat that hung around his ankles as he paced the length of the room. His steel-tipped boots clicked on the diry wooden floor as he avoided stepping on a stray nail. He had pulled up the carpet himself, and he hadn't done a very good job of it. His eyes were fixed on the ugly wallpaper, and he resolved to get rid of that as well.

"Dear die-ary," He muttered with a small breath of a chuckle, but it sounded more like an angry sigh. "Today I had an argument with my psychotic teddy bear, my mother asked me if I was a cloud and my father told me to get kidnapped. My life is perfect."

_'Again with the moping,'_ said Shmee, who was sitting motionless on the desk beside the candle. The small brown bear was roughly stitched up after various attacks, and one eye was missing. But, unfortunately for any small child that would happen to look upon it, Shmee still had his wide, scary smile. His voice echoed inside Todd's head. _'And happy sixteenth.'_

"You, my dear old friend, can shut the hell up." Todd snapped. "It's four days until my birthday. Why can't you give me some peace until then?"

_'You never know what might happen between now and then,'_ The bear said ominously. _'There's more going on than-'_

Todd slammed the diary into Shmee's face, sending him flying across the room. He fell to the floor with a dull thud, and Todd had the feeling he was going to get up and start walking at any moment. The boy shuddered and shook it off.

The bear stayed where he was, lying in a tangled heap just under the window. Not that he could have moved if he wanted to. _'Just because I'm stuffed doesn't mean I don't have feelings,'_ He complained.

"Right," Todd said sarcastically. He put the diary carefully next to the mirror and went to collect the bear. Then he sighed, blowing out the lone candle in his room, and flopped onto his bed in the complete darkness. There was no moon tonight. "The lights will be on by morning."

_'Will they really, Squee?'_ Shmee sounded like he knew something Todd didn't. But he nodded anyway.

The room suddenly felt chilly and Shmee fell silent. The walls seemed to whisper to Todd, incomprehensible words rustling through his mind like fallen paper, sending shivers down his spine. As soon as it started, the strange sound ceased, leaving Todd's mind emptier than before.

"They'll be back on," He whispered to Shmee, but the stuffed toy didn't answer. Without taking off his boots, the boy curled up under the covers, hoping fervently that he was right.


	3. It'll Only Get Worse From Here

_Thanks for the reviews, everyone! They make me smile. Although, any review will make me smile these days (hint hint). And I do not own Oreos. Actually, I own a packet, but I don't own the company or anything. I wish I did..._

_Another boring chapter, I guess. If you like mysteries and explanations, then this one might be a bit interesting. If you like mindless violence, then you will have to wait a little longer..._

_NOTE: I never put 'romance' in the genre, so don't expect any. Possibly in the sequel (Yes, there will be a sequel), but not here. Not yet. And probably not between these two. But my mind can always change. As can my eyes. They change colour because I'm special._

**Chapter 3: It'll Only Get Worse From Here**

_'Told you so.'_ Shmee's voice was smug and worried. Todd tried once again to turn on the light, but was unsuccessful. No matter how many times he flicked the switch, the small hanging globe in his room wouldn't glow.

He sighed and ripped part of the bear's arm at the seam, taking a small piece of stuffing.

_'What the HELL was that for!?'_ Shmee asked angrily.

Todd just laughed and pocketed the stuffing. "I'm going for a walk, and I need you to tell me if anything happens here. I'll fix you back up... eventually."

_'Well, that still wasn't very nice. I already have too many stitches!'_ Shmee said, mock-hurt.

Todd opened his mouth to say something, but a light and irritating noise began buzzing in the back of his head. The temperature in the room dropped suddenly, and Todd shivered. More than he could hear it, he could _feel_ the walls whisper.

He fled the room then, before the sounds could get any louder, scooping up an old backpack that held some water, the diary, a bunch of useless junk and possibly a packet of week-old Oreos. Shmee just sat on the desk, unnaturally silent in the chill.

As he was opening the front door, Todd heard his father muttering, "I hope the kid gets eaten by a bear." He groaned and tried violently to rip the video out of the player without destroying any of it, but eventually tore the metal roof off and began to pull the tape out of the small box. The video's cover was kicked his way, and Todd saw that it was his birth. His father watched it on a daily basis now... backwards. He shuddered and turned away, the disturbing thought of himself being put back into his mother being too much for him to handle without getting sick. Along with the sight of it, the thought of his parents wanting it to happen sent him out the door in rage.

It slammed behind him, rattling the old windows. There was a incoherent mumble from inside, and, not wanting to know what ugly words were coming out of his father's mouth, Todd sprinted around the house and into the bushland that bordered it.

-X-

He had been walking aimlessly for an hour, and Todd was starting to get hungry. Sitting down at the trunk of a spindly tree, he opened his backpack hopefully. Sure enough, a half-eaten packet of Oreos was there. He dug in happily, savouring the flavour. Todd's parents never really gave him anything this good, even considering it was stale.

Mouth full, he scanned his surroundings for possible trails he could take home. Instead, his eyes settled on three figures standing close together further in. Todd saw nothing else, so he turned back to his snack, uninterested, though he kept them in his sights from the corner of his eye in case they decided to try something stupid with Todd.

One of them started towards him, the others seeming to tail a video camera behind them. Odd... but, since when was everyone completely sane? Todd ignored the three.

_'Shove a tree branch through her face!'_ Shmee urged, but the boy tuned it out.

As the approaching figure got closer, Todd saw that it was a girl of about his age. Her expression was oddly scared. Not nervous, like when one might meet someone new, but fully terrified. Like she were approaching a hideous monster with many tentacles. She looked back to the other two, but they just waved her on, yelling something he couldn't hear.

Curiosity got the best of him, and Todd watched as she put a hand out, and a shocked expression instantly wiped away the fear. The air seemed to ripple around her outstretched arm. She looked back, as did Todd, to see the other two had dropped the camera. One scrambled to pick it back up while the other held their arm anxiously.

The girl took a deep breath and stepped once, the air moving once again like ripples in a pond. They moved upwards in a soft arc, and to either side, until they disappeared completely. Todd stood up, dropping his snack, and tried to figure out what he had just seen. The girl didn't even glance in his direction; she just stared back at the other two blankly. She grinned and waved to them, but they didn't respond. They just stared, the video camera fixed on the spot that the air had shaken. The girl's grin faded and alarm flashed in her eyes.

"Yvonne! Derek! C'mon guys, stop playing around!" She shouted. There was still no response. Her voice echoed some as if she were shouting at a wall. The girl went to take a step towards them, but her foot collided with what looked like solid air. The waves spread out again, and she started to panic. She shouted again, and tried to push against what seemed to be nothing.

By now, Todd was too freaked out to move. He just watched as the girl became more and more violent towards the barrier point. Finally, she headbutted it repeatedly, arms hanging limply beside her. The girl seemed to have given up on trying to get through... whatever it was. Her face was terrified, but tired at the same time. She sank to her knees, one hand on the wall of solid air.

Todd got a good look at her then. She was very pale, with dark, sunken eyes that looked too old and wise for her delicate, child-like face. Her clothes were invisible under an ugly, too-large brown jacket, and her boots of the same shade were scratched to the point of coming apart. Her hair was a darker brown, almost black, and it was held above her head in two messy pigtails. The girl looked like she had been chewed up and spat out by a mountain, then seen the most horrific sight imaginable, before she turned up on the horizon. Those eyes had seen too much...

Finally Todd had recovered enough to do something. "Hey!" He shouted. The girl flinched and stared at him like he was from another planet.

"W-who are you? Wait, that's not important. What's happened in here?" She asked shakily, balancing herself with her arms as she stood up.

"What do you mean? What the hell going on?" He asked back.

The girl just stared at him blankly. Then her eye twitched. "You can't be serious..." She saw Todd's confused expression and barked a sarcastic laugh. "Oh, great. This is just _perfect._"

Todd growled. "Will you tell me what's going on, already?" He asked, approaching the place she had just tried to get through. It felt like a brick wall coated in a few millimeters of gel. He pushed on it, not sure why he wanted to get through, but to no avail. The barrier stood solid. He sighed and turned to the girl.

"Now that you seem convinced that it's real... I guess I have to start at the beginning. I can't believe this!" She muttered, taking a deep breath. "This may sound a little insane, but you can feel the thing, so don't go thinking I'm a psycho lunatic or anything. Last night a... gigantic grey dome appeared over the city. No one knows why, or even what it is. So far nobody could get through. Not vehicles, not foot soldiers... I guess my friends wanted to say they saw the dome for real, and I tagged along. I don't know how..." The girl trailed off, staring at the two in the distance.

"How you got through. And now you can't get back, for some odd reason." Todd finished her sentence, and the girl nodded. Movement in the distance caught their attention, and they both saw the other two, the girl's 'friends', get up an leave. Todd snorted in disgust, knowing that they were all the same. Selfish bastards, using those weaker than themselves as playthings to manipulate and push around.

The girl sniffed and turned away from them, trying to seem uninterested. Obviously, she knew that as well. Why she had followed them to the dome, though, he would never know.

To break the awkward silence, Todd bowed and said, "To answer your first question, you may call me Squee, milady. Please excuse my horrible attitude a few seconds ago. My hideous adolescent mood swings have got the better of me, once again. Plus, it's fun to confuse people like this."

The girl just stared at him, frozen. Something flashed in her eyes. "Do... Do I know you?" She asked warily.

Todd straightened. "I haven't seen you before. Not that I know of, anyway."

"Never mind. I'm probably thinking of someone else..." She blinked once, realising what he had said before. "Squee?"

"The name bestowed upon me when my parents realised they had to take me home from the hospital," He said sadly. "Plus it was the sound I made when I was scared, and I used to be scared a lot. Feel free to mock me now."

The girl laughed, but it wasn't cruel. She was genuinely laughing at his joke.

"May I have your name?" He asked. This girl seemed like one of the few that actually respected the ones people usually ridicule, so Todd decided that she deserved more than cutting remarks and venomous glares. Instead, he held out his hand.

She shook it, her hand somehow even thinner than his own. He could clearly feel her bones through the skin. Then she shrugged and smiled absently. "Don't remember it."

Todd didn't know what to think. The one person he could have devoted any friendship to just happened to be completely out of her mind. "Do you remember _why_ you don't remember?" He asked.

"I don't remember _anything_ up until last week. Wait... I know what the longest word in the English language is. And I know that googelplex is a number. And that without mucus your stomach will digest itself. And that turtles can breathe through their anus. But I don't remember a thing about how I remember all that. Neat, huh?"

"Okay, that's creepy... They can really breathe through their anus?" He asked. "Never mind. I don't want to know. Do you have amnesia or something?"

The girl thought for a moment. "Probably not. I mean, I don't have a bump on my head. Well, not one that hasn't been made recently..." She rubbed the red mark on her forehead that had formed when she was violently trying to get through the barrier. "Ugh! What am I going to to?" She asked herself, turning to face the barrier. She looked like she was about to get violent again, but instead she just glared.

"Good question," Todd said, eying the barrier warily. He wondered where Shmee was, and why he hadn't butted in yet.

There was a sigh from beside him. The girl turned to him and nodded once, then spun around to walk off. She jolted and completed the turn, facing Todd again, and asked, "Which way is the town?"

He pointed in the general direction of the main street. "But I should warn you, there's probably no power right now. That would be the barrier's doing. Why are you going, anyway?"

"I've come this far, so I might as well see it through." She looked thoughtful, biting her lip. "Things are going to get bad if this doesn't let up. People go crazy if the right variables are introduced, and this barrier will be enough to set them off. You should probably get yourself ready for a rough time."

With that, she turned on her heel and left. Todd stared after her for a time, wondering exactly how much sanity she has left, then he went to collect his backpack and investigate the barrier again.

_'That was the longest conversation you've ever had.'_ Shmee's voice intruded on his thoughts once again.

"Shut up. I don't think that counts. In case you weren't listening, that girl was insane."

_'I agree. Let's burn her for making you interact with other human beings.'_

Todd sighed and ignored the bear, trekking along the perimeter of the barrier to see if it went as far as the girl said it did.

-X-

_October 13, 2007_

_Dear Die-ary_

_I know I only wrote yesterday, but things just got weirder. The lights still haven't come back on, and now I know why. Sort of. Apparently a strange dome just appeared around the city, cutting us off from the rest of the world. Maybe. I know this because I met a girl from the outside, and I contradict this because she came in __from__ the outside. Strange, because apparently no one else could get through. I really want to know why..._

_My parents didn't believe a word of what I said. My own mother asked who I was again, and my father blamed __me__ for the power outage. I'm sick of the way they treat me! Just a few more years until I can move out. Until then, I guess I'll just have to deal with it._

_I'm going into town to see if anyone else has discovered the barrier... but I can't help having a bad feeling about this. Maybe it's just Shmee talking, but I believed the girl completely when she said things could get ugly out there._

_Todd C._

-X-

A TV in the front of an electronics shop was on, somewhere outside the barrier. The dome was all they showed since yesterday, and word spread quickly. Now the entire world knew about this strange phenomenon. Perimiters were being set up around the thing, heavily guarded by foot soldiers.

A shadowed man grinned as he sucked a super-size Cherry-Doom flavoured Brainfreezy through a straw as he perched delicately on the roof of the shop opposite, watching the televisions intently. He had heard the rumors, but this was the proof he needed before he continued his venture. His unkempt black hair was rippling lightly in the wind, as was his tailed shirt, giving him a ghostly appearance. That and his wide, dark eyes that seemed to glow through the shadows.

"I didn't come this far to simply be denied access to my old home," he muttered loudly, earning glares from a few passers-by. Then he frowned and sighed. "I must be insane to _still_ be calling that shithole a _home_... But I guess it's better than the rest of the world. At least I had friends there," he said, referring to the inanimate objects and dead animals he so often talked to. But that in itself was quite normal; the _really_ fucked up thing about it was that they talked back.

"Freak," One man muttered as he entered the shop. Johnny's mouth twitched upwards involuntarily.

-X-

Red and blue lights were flashing in the windows of the shop and police were slamming the bathroom door open, pushing aside the man that had found it.

A sink was broken, flooding the room with water, blood mixed in intricate patterns as it swirled down the drain in the floor. A policewoman froze as she saw the reason for their call labelled 'urgent'.

A twelve-inch blade was pinning a gory human eyeball to the shattered mirror, crimson oozing into a sink that was full of human fingernails and broken toothpicks that were also covered in thick blood. The rest of the force swarmed in after a few barked orders, kicking open every cubicle door in the room, one by one. One policeman fell backwards, gagging and retching as he saw what one cubicle contained.

Stuffed roughly into the already dirty toilet bowl was a mass of various body parts, and organs littered the floor. Blood was sprayed across the walls, covering the graffiti completely with its oozeyness. The smell of it clogged up the policemen's noses and mouths, and they staggered backwards, holding their guns as if the dismembered body would begin to drag itself towards them like in some cheap horror film. But without the wires.

Some of them ran back out of the room, quit their jobs and resolved to lay in bed for weeks trying to suppress this memory before they were scooped up by the nice men in pretty white coats and given the tasty orange pills to make all the bad things go away.

-X-

Exactly four minutes and fifty three seconds later, Johnny C. was staring intently at the rushing police from his perch near the window, the idiots oblivious to his existence. He was short one knife, covered in blood and gore, and smiling happily. Ans he was still holding his Brainfreezy.

He hadn't put it down once during his visit.


	4. The Voices Never Lie

_I personally find this chapter confusing and crappy, but I'm only one person. I'd like to hear your thoughts on the story so far. The little green review button tempts you! Do not deny the button!_

**Chapter 4: The Voices Never Lie**

Abandoned cars littered the streets and the shops lining them were empty. Angry crowds gathered closer to the center of town, where several policemen were trying to calm them down.

"Okay people, wrap it up! Everything's under control here!" That and similar shouts echoed throughout the square, but no one paid any attention. They were demanding to know what was going on and that they would sue them for god-knows-what.

Todd pushed his way through the crowd until he saw a circle of police forcefully pushing them away, ignoring their protests. One man's yell rang above everyone else's, quieting them down.

He stepped out between the officers, seeming to have a speech in mind. "Everyone! As you can see, the entire situation is NOT under control! These cops want to avoid spreading panic, but I say that we have a right to know what's going on... If they even know what it is themselves! These are becoming dark times, literally, and we have to stay calm if we're going to get through-"

His speech was cut off by a cop roughly pushing him to the ground. "This is nothing but a normal power failure!!" He shouted, trying to win over the crowd again.

"Then why aren't the cars working?" "How come torches are off?" "MY TOILET WON'T FLUSH!!" Contradictions rang through the air until it was all just noise, incomprehensible and annoying.

If Squee had more charisma, hell, if he liked people at all, he would have gone up there and told them about the barrier. But he wasn't, so he didn't. Instead he seethed inside, wondering how long it would take until this got violent.

As it appears, the second he had that thought, a woman next to him pulled a gun on the crowd. She screamed for everyone to be quiet, and they complied. The police officers just stared at her as the crowd reformed around her.

"As you can see, the law is failing along with the power. We can do anything we want without consequences! Why should we stay calm when panicking and rioting will have exactly the same result? We are human, and we can't help our destructive nature._" _Her voice was low and calm, but the gun was shaky in her hand. She was trying to win over the crowd at gunpoint, which would never end well. "Nobody lives forever," She said finally. And, to prove her point, she grabbed Todd roughly by the collar, thrusting the burning cold metal into the back of his neck.

Todd stayed as calm as his racing heart would let him. This wasn't the first time he had been held at gunpoint... But last time was a seven-year-old that made Todd play Barbie with her, and neither of them realised that the safety was still on. He was breathing heavily as the woman spun around for all to see her hostage.

The police finally recovered and took their guns out quickly, all aimed at the woman, but they were still lost for words. The woman just chuckled, holding Todd between her and the police. He grinned nervously and waved to the cops, but the woman pressed the gun harder into his skull. He dropped his hand.

There was a shout coming from the crowd, a girl's voice telling the woman to let Todd go. The cops and the woman all looked towards the voice, and Todd took his chance gratefully. He slipped underneath the gun and swept her legs out from under her. He wrestled out of her grasp and ran. Todd raced through the crowd, intending to run straight home, but the crowd parted for him revealing a policeman. He grabbed Todd by the shoulder.

Three more cops surrounded the woman on the ground and arrested her, leading her to the car. Then they were at a loss at what to do, because none of the cars were working.

"I'd just like to ask you a few questions," the cop said importantly, seemingly unaware that being held hostage at gunpoint was a bad thing and would have a somewhat negative effect on the victim.

Todd raised an eyebrow. "Didn't you just see everything that happened?"

"That's not relevant to the procedure." He continued to ask questions that had nothing to do with what had just transpired in the square, until Todd was just too tired of their ignorance to stay silent any longer.

"Ugh! You people are so _stupid!_ Can't you see that what she said was true? This town is going to fall apart if you don't get off your lazy asses and take some initiative! And I don't mean to calm down a crowd. You have to do more than that. Run this crappy little city until we can contact thr outside world, then _maybe_ we can get through this!" Todd took a deep breath and jerked out of the policemen's hold.

He looked around, embarrassed and furious, to see that the crowd had reformed around himself this time, the arrested criminal ignored completely. He glared at them all, but one face caught his attention.

The girl from the barrier nodded once, and disappeared into the crowd. She was there and gone so quick that Todd wondered if he had really seen her at all. As he slipped in between the cops and left the square, he wondered if it was her that had distracted his captor.

Todd made his way along the decaying streets, eventually noticing something extremely disturbing; The trees in the distance were swaying slightly, but there was no wind at all.

-X-

A few hours later, Todd was still wandering the rapidly darkening streets. He didn't want to go back to his abusive parents, but he couldn't think of anywhere else to go, so he just kept walking until his feet brought him to a near-destroyed street. Graffiti lined the dirty walls, almost every shop had been broken into and looted. One of them was on fire. It amazed and sickened him how people could sabotage themselves so much after only two days without power.

But maybe it wasn't that. Maybe they felt it, too... the chill, and the whispers. Maybe they knew this wasn't normal.

Avoiding that street entirely, the boy found himself in a part of town he hadn't been in before. It had a foreboding air about it, the elongated shadows flooding the street with darkness. his boots clicked on the concrete too loud for his comfort.

As he turned a corner, he heard something. Voices coming from inside a shop with a broken window. Knowing how dangerous anyone could be at this time, he hid behind a pile of packing crates and was about to make a run for it, but he froze at what he heard.

They were male voices, and they were laughing. "Come on, sweetie. Don't be shy," One said. You could hear the greasiness in his voice, and Todd suddenly didn't want to be anywhere near this place. But his body wouldn't obey him, feet frozen to the concrete on which he crouched.

"Boys, let us not hurt the child," A woman's voice chimed in. "Not yet." She chuckled, followed by the deep voices of the men. "We need her alive and well for a few more minutes."

There was the sound of a struggle, then a heavy thud. A high-pitched scream filled the air, but was cut off too suddenly for comfort. "Tell us where it is, girly! Or..." The man chuckled, and Todd shuddered at the thought of what could be going on in there.

Another female voice could be heard, small at first, but still determined. And also sickeningly familiar. "Get away from me. I told you idiots that I made it up! Ugh, I can _smell_ your stupidity from here!"

It was the girl from the barrier. Insane, but the only person Todd had ever met that was bearable to be around.

Suddenly the air felt cold. Freezing - literally. Frost coated the crates in front of Todd's face and ice ran through his veins. A weight seemed to fall onto his mind, numbing his senses until he had to fight to keep from falling unconscious. A voice entered his mind, neither male nor female, but holding the majesty and power of something older than time. _'__**Save her.**__'_

It wasn't Shmee.

_'__**She needs to complete her task before she can truly leave this world. Save her...**__'_ Those words echoed in his head, dragging him to his knees. That wasn't a statement. It was an order. And Todd couldn't refuse.

He stood up and the ice melted around him, leaving Todd shivering. The weight of the command had left, but the memory of it stayed, and that was enough to push him onwards. As he left his hiding place, he also left his sanity.

The scene he saw in his mind was pretty close to the reality of it. He could see the backs of two men, and another was holding the nameless girl in an armlock. The woman was standing beside them, grinning. She had a long dagger in her hand, and held it like she knew how to use it. It was already covered in blood.

-X-

It was no use struggling; the man had her locked solidly in place. The other two seemed to be on every side, and she was scared to wonder what they would do to her when the woman said she was done.

There were no tears. There were no screams. The girl seemed like she didn't care one bit about what was going on, and that just made them more determined to get a reaction out of her. So they killed him. The man that had offered her shelter for the night. Though she hated his daughter and the daughter returned the feeling, it was the only place the girl could have stayed. How will she tell the other girl that her father is dead?

And the things they threatened to do to her now had pushed her over the edge. She had no memory of her life before last week, so she believed that she had nothing to lose. Because of that, the girl decided to taunt her assaulters to no end. She would die before they had their way with her.

The girl had not denied her death. She had not merely accepted it. She had embraced it, as a relief from the horrors of this new world she lived in. But a small part of her told her not to. It told her to fight. Drowning that part out, she braced herself for the final insult that would lead to the final blow.

The words never left her mouth. She could have sworn she saw a shadow move independently of the others.

The shadow moved again, this time towards the people in the room. Suddenly, a man in front of her slid to the ground, unconscious. In his place was a thin, dark figure with eyes that seemed to give off their own light. He held a long blade that had belonged to the woman not too long ago.

Then she recognised the figure. "Squee?!" Something jolted inside her, and white flashed in front of her eyes. She remembered... something... Kita; Kiah; Keebler... It was her name... But then it was gone, too quick to make any sense, and she was thrust back into this hateful reality.

Not taking any chances, the girl used the distraction to slip out of the man's grasp, much like she had seen Todd do in the square, only this was more practiced. She didn't remember how or when she learnt it, but this skill came to her naturally.

Though terror was raging through her body, she did not run. She fought.

-X-

Todd expected her to flee the scene, knowing how close she had come to being raped and murdered, but she didn't. The girl stayed by his side, and he was grateful. He would never have won this fight without the element of surprise on his side, and now that that had expired, he would have been facing two grown men alone, armed with only a knife he hardly knew how to use.

The girl took the knife out of Todd's hand and grabbed her former captor's hair, dragging him down to look him in the eye. Then she slit his throat. Blood spilled onto her hands and sprayed her face, so she threw the body to the ground and grinned at the other man who was watching in horror.

The woman came up from behind them, catching Todd by surprise. He ducked under a punch and kicked her in the stomach, making her crumple. She hissed at him and fled, dodging a slice from the girl.

The other man watched his leader run, and he, too, abandoned the fight with what little dignity he had left.

"We'll get you! We'll kill you both, you little vermin!" With that, he turned and fled, leaving the two kids injured and alone with two bodies and one unconscious criminal.

Todd walked over to the man that was tormenting the girl before to check his pulse. He had hit him pretty hard on the head, and Todd wasn't sure weather he wanted him to be alive or not.

It was difficult to find, but the man's heart was beating. Todd stood up, disgusted, and kicked him in the groin. The man groaned and curled into a ball.

Todd shivered as the air started to feel cold again. The weight entered his mind, and he clutched his head as if to squeeze it out of him.

_'__**Finish the job...**__'_ Todd's knife hand twitched, and he had to use all the strength in his body not to bring it down into the man's flesh. He fell to his knees and threw the knife away, letting is skitter across the floor. The voice chuckled. _'__**You are too weak now, but in time, it will happen. There is no escaping your fate, Todd.**__'_

"No!" He gasped. The pressure lifted, leaving Todd empty. He just stared at the unconscious man, trying to prevent himself from falling into that same oblivion.

"Are you okay?" Todd jumped as he heard the girl's voice close beside him. He turned to see her looking at him with a concerned expression.

Todd let the tiniest of smiles play on his lips. "I think I should be asking you the same question. You were the one being held captive by those... monsters." Even the thought of being human made him sick when he saw how twisted they really were.

The girl nodded. "True, but that was only externally. You have been just as tormented as I have, only internally." Her face was deadly serious when she saw the shock on his face. "It doesn't take a genius to know when something supernatural is going on... I know you're being haunted by something."

Todd was still shocked. For one thing, her logic was sick. And he could also see she wasn't telling the whole truth. He was about to argue with her, but when he looked over, she was gone. He stood up shakily and scanned the room.

Todd saw her walking out the half-destroyed door, and called her back. "Hey! Wait a minute!" It was the he wished he knew her name.

The girl had rounded the corner before he could catch her. Sighing, Todd glanced back into the room and jumped when he saw the girl standing right behind him. "How did you...?"

The girl just shrugged and her serious expression faded, giving way to a large grin. She held out a bloody hand, saying, "Kaya. You can call me Kaya."

Todd just stared at the hand, and the girl only then realised that it was still covered in blood. She dropped her hand and nodded at him instead. She was insanely creepy, and creepily insane, but she was okay when it came to being human. "Thanks. It feels better to know the name of the Almighty Creepy One. When did you remember?" He asked.

She hesitated, then said, "I didn't, really. I just like the name." Her face fell, and looked sadly back at a fallen man Todd didn't notice before. "I guess... I guess I have a family to inform," She said, her grin fading as fast as it had come.

Todd glanced at the body and nodded, but he wasn't going to let her run off like before. He needed her to answer one question first. "How do you know I hear voices?"

The girl looked around awkwardly, obviously avoiding the question. When it looked like Todd was about to storm away, she put a hand up. "Don't go," She pleaded. "I... I don't remember. I... uh, I don't remember how I know. I just do."

She sounded uncertain, but she seemed to sound like that a lot, so Todd believed her. He just nodded, needing to leave this shop and everything to do with it alone.

_Don't make me do that again,_ He thought to the voice angrily, staring at his bloody hands. _I don't want to be judge, jury and executioner, and I can't kill people. I'm not going to, and you can't make me._

_'__**We'll see...**__'_ It was but an echo of the power the voice held when it told him to save the girl, Kaya, but it was still powerful enough for him to need to shake his head to clear it.

The girl grinned halfheartedly and sprinted out of the shop, leaving Todd alone. He would find his way back home sooner or later, and until then, he would strive to forget all that had happened that day.

_It isn't my fate to kill... It can't be._


	5. The Colour Of Screams

_This time I speak the truth when I say get ready for a boring chapter. The title is more interesting than the body of this text._

_And I realise that, depending on what you have and/or haven't read, Tenna could also be called 'Tonja'. But, because I'm better than you, She is called 'Tenna' in my fic._

_Next chapter will be interesting. I think. Well, if it wasn't, then what's the point in writing this fic? I mean, so far all I've had is boredom and waiting. Blood comes soon. And nightmares. So many nightmares..._

**Chapter 5: The Colour Of Screams**

_Days passed. Well, one and a half days, to be precise._

Devi threw her paintbrush down angrily, letting the wet paint stain the floor. She stood back and viewed her creation; a mix of something that could only be explained as abstract terror, reds and blues and greens swirling into nothing but an intricate blur of colour. She tried to find any sense or meaning in the painting, but as far as she could tell, there was none. She had started on the canvas like one possessed, letting her thoughts flow through her brush. It seemed that she had very twisted thoughts at the moment.

She brought a hand up to wipe her purple hair out of her face, smearing paint all over her forehead. Devi glared at her hand and would have thrown it to the floor, too, had it not been attached to her wrist.

Tenna, her roommate, chose that moment to walk in, cutting Devi out of her ugly daydreams. "That's neat. What do you think, Spooky?" She asked, addressing the small, skeleton-printed squeaky toy. She chuckled at something the toy might have said, and flopped onto the couch.

Devi sighed and took the remote, trying once again to turn the television on. Not that she would want to watch it if it did. It was all just an endless stream of trivial items that are blown up hugely to make a tiny profit.

There was a knock on the door, making Devi jump a foot in the air. "What the...?" She muttered, approaching the door warily. Since the blackout, there had been minimal movement in the rest of the apartments. A visitor wasn't exactly expected at the moment.

She unbolted the door and looked into the hall to see a woman with short, messy blue-black and hair black lipstick standing in front of two impatient-looking men.

The woman half-smiled at Devi and asked, "Hey there. Do you think you could spare a few rooms for the night?"

"Yeah, come on," Said one of the guys slyly.

Devi was about to refuse when the woman's eyes flashed dangerously. She glanced back to the men quickly, then seemed to make a decision. She grabbed Devi's wrist and dragged her into the house, gesturing for the men to stay where they were. Then she slammed the door in their faces.

"Excuse me, but could _get the hell out of my house_?" Devi demanded angrily, ripping her wrist out of the woman's hold when they were in the loungeroom.

The woman sighed. "I _really_ need a place to stay tonight. The whole blackout thing is really getting to my boyfriend's head, and both he _and_ his friend think it's a perfect excuse to get _close_ to me. I _really_ need a chaperone right now," She pleaded. "Everyone else in the building reacted similarly, but seriously, I can't really hold them off at gunpoint any more, can I?" She asked, gesturing to her medium-length coat that surely concealed a pistol.

Devi froze. "Why... do you carry a gun?" She asked slowly, her hand creeping towards the mace she always kept under the lounge cushions.

"It's a long and... unpleasant story. I'm really sorry about intruding like this, but it's too dangerous out there to stay on the streets." The woman said, glancing back at the door.

"It's just a blackout," Devi said, but the woman shook her head gravely.

"This is different. I've seen at least two bodies just lying on the ground on the way here. I think the people know that something... weird is going on. I... I really need a place to stay."

Tenna, who had been watching the exchange quietly up until now, jumped in. "Sure! I'm Tenna, and I own this house just as much as Devi does. So my opinion counts just as much, and I will gladly adopt the role of chaperone. Devi?" She asked, squeezing Spooky as if he were in agreement.

Before Devi could answer, the woman noticed the twisted painting in the corner. "Who did this?" She asked. "It's so... expressive. Like _real_ art, not the stuff they put in cheap galleries. It looks like..." She trailed off, staring deeply into the artwork as if it would jump off the page and speak to her. "... Like the colour of screams. This is what screams would look like if they were visible." She said decisively. "I've only seen one other person that could paint like this..."

Tenna grinned happily, pointing accusingly at Devi. "It's all her! Pretty cool, isn't it?"

"_You_ did this? I guess first impressions aren't everything..." The woman said, slightly shocked.

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?" Devi snapped, but the other woman just held up her hands innocently.

Tenna broke the awkward silence by taking a baseball bat from beside the couch. She slung it over her shoulder and marched towards the door, opening it to admit the two men into the house. She pointed the bat at each of them threateningly, then pointed to the spare room. They grinned and followed her directions to the spare room, but instead of her following them in, she slammed the door behind them and bolted it from the outside. Then she took her post as guard and sat with the bat leaning beside her.

The other woman stared at Devi questioningly, and she sighed. "Introducing Tenna, my insane roommate, and I'm Devi." She introduced herself reluctantly, wanting nothing more than this strange trio to be away from her.

"Thanks," The woman sighed. "I'm Tess."

Devi nodded, saying that Tess would have to have the spare bed and she would take the lounge. "And one more thing," She instructed. "The pantry is completely off-limits. You guys will have to leave tomorrow if you want food, because it's running low in the house. My priorities are Tenna and myself. I hope you can understand that."

"Absolutely. I promise we'll be out of your hair soon," Tess said. "And thanks again."

Devi ushered the woman towards the spare bed while she set herself up on the lounge, right beside her mace. Before she went to sleep, however, she closed off the pantry with an entire roll of duct tape. Just to make sure.

-X-

Kaya was walking the dangerous streets without purpose, just putting one floor in front of the other and wondering why she wasn't getting tired or hungry. She hadn't eaten or slept in days, and it was already long past sunset. A cat yowled and ran past, closely followed by another, larger and nastier-looking one.

She looked up from her scuffed boots to see the other end of the barrier, marked with a foot soldier standing on guard not far away. She glared at the barrier venomously, but movement in the bush next to the soldier caught her attention. She looked closer, the dark so thick it looked like airborne jelly, to see a shadow flash from the shrub. Before she could gather her thoughts, blood sprayed up the barrier's wall.

She gasped and tried to move but couldn't shift her feet, though every bone in her body was telling her to run. From the other side of the blood emerged a tall, scrawny, sickly looking man with a long, black coat and black hair that looked like it had a mind of its own. That man had just walked straight through the barrier.

The man started laughing triumphantly, staring back at the barrier like it was alive and would react to mocking. Sheathing his knives, his gaze wandered from the outside to the decaying city that stood before him and his face fell. He cursed violently, and Kaya just stared at him.

He seemed to sense her gaze and turned towards the girl. "Oh... Hi," He said.

"How did you get through?" She asked, ignoring any small talk.

"Why should I tell you?" He countered, irritated. Then his expression cleared and he shrugged. "So far I'm the only one that could-"

Kaya cut him off. "I got through."

The man just stared at her, but then he shook his head. "I think not. You see, I'm special. In more than one way, but let's not get into that."

"No, whatever 'special' attribute that we both have let us through, making me just as 'special' as you are," she snapped.

"You're smart, but you should work on your temper a bit. I'm Johnny C., but you can call me Nny. If you don't plan to be a little prick, that is." He said, bowing in a way so similar to Squee's that she almost had to laugh.

"Kaya." She gave her name quickly, thinking it unimportant to introduce herself to a man that she was probably never going to see again. "Why did you kill that soldier?" She asked.

Johnny looked back to the blood that was still running down the barrier. "He was in the way," He answered simply.

Kaya shook her head at him sadly, making him scowl. "If you _insist_ on killing people, it has to be for a good reason. I mean, if your mother was in the way, would you slice her up?"

The strange man's scowl deepened. "I used to have a reason. I used to live by it. But... Now it's gone. Wiped from my memory, like all traces of my past. I almost forgot that this was _my_ town, that _my_ home was here, so I had to come back." He answered, lost in thought. "Heh. I almost forgot who Squee was, the poor kid. I think I traumatised him beyond belief."

"Wait, Squee? As in, Todd Casil?" Kaya asked, shocked.

Johnny nodded. "You know him?"

"A little. He helped me when I came through the barrier, and he was weird and scary like you are. Are you related?" She asked.

"Not that I know of. I think I just rubbed off on him, being his neighbor for as long as I was." Johnny answered, though it was obvious that he was thinking of another reason entirely. Kaya knew it was none of her business.

She turned the conversation to a more useful topic. "I can't remember anything about myself before last week. I had to make up my own name. I wonder what we have in common that allowed us through the barrier?" She mused.

Johnny shrugged, but then started rattling off a list of things he did. " I don't see why it's that important, but... I kill people. Could that be it?" He asked.

Kaya shook her head. "I don't think I've killed anyone _before_ I got through. And even if I did, I'm sure some soldiers would have, and they couldn't get through. Anything else?"

"I like Skettios."

"I find them revoltingly processed and too saucy." She replied. This earned her a piercing glare from Johnny. Apparently, he _really_ liked spaghettios.

"I hear voices in my head. I'm sure not everyone does that. Voices?"

"So does Squee, but he couldn't get through," Kaya ventured. She wasn't ready to answer _that_ question to anyone.

"Squee hears voices?" He asked, intrigued.

Kaya nodded, but said, "We're getting off-topic, here."

Johnny thought for a minute, leaving Kaya to her own thoughts. This was a very strange character she had met, and he didn't seem to be all there in the head. But in her opinion, who did? It was all just a matter of perspective and, seeing as she must seem just as insane to this man as he did to her, then she probably wasn't the best one to judge.

Johnny's face brightened suddenly, and he turned back to the girl. "I've died."

Kaya was dumbstruck. "You've _what?_" She asked, incredulous and a little scared.

"Yep. God is a lazy bastard and Satan is a manipulative liar, Heaven is boring and Hell is just like the real world. It's not much fun being dead," He said, grinning like he aws having the time of his life screwing with a little girl's mind.

"You've _died?_" She asked skeptically.

Johnny crossed his arms defensively. "Either that, or I had a crazy dream and shaved my head in my sleep. But I'm pretty sure now that I've died."

Kaya raised her hands innocently. "I've never died, so I'm not one to judge," She said, closing the topic. It was too hard to work this out when they both didn't know a thing about their pasts.

Nny didn't want that to be the end. He wanted an argument, dammit! He wanted an excuse to kill this skeptical bitch! But he couldn't, because he knew she had a point. So instead, he said politely, "I'm going home now. Good night, Kaya." With that, he walked off.

"Nice meeting you!" She said, grinning and waving, ecstatic at her victory. Johnny just put a hand up in a backwards wave and disappeared into the darkness.

She went her own way, but before she could go far a hand reached out from inside a door and grabbed her shoulder. Kaya gasped and turned, twisting until she had the person's arm in her grasp, ready to snap the wrist if the need arose.

Kaya's eyes adjusted to the darkness inside and she saw the face of a boy a bit older than herself. His eyes were wide with terror, and she dropped his wrist quickly. He retreated, rubbing the sore red mark Kaya's tight grip had made.

A girl's face appeared in the darkness, dirty and pale. "Please. We... We need food. Do you think you could-"

The girl was cut off by another pale hand, but this one had long, fake nails painted a revolting hot pink. A third face appeared, her mascara run so bad that she looked like a zombie. The girl sneered. "Don't, Jess. She's the one my father went to the store with!" She shreiked.

Then Kaya recognised her. It was the man's daughter, the one the gang killed, and these must be whatever friends she managed to round up during the initial disaster. She grimaced, knowing where this confrontation would lead. "Yes, I was with your father when he was killed. We couldn't save him in time." Kaya said coldly.

The girl's eyes widened. "Y-you... He's dead? Oh my god... You did this!" She pointed an accusing finger at Kaya, who just stared, tensing for whatever reaction this was building up to be.

The boy grabbed her by the shoulder and whispered something in her ear, occasionally glancing at Kaya as if she weren't there. It was obvious that he was talking about her. The girl started to grin and leaned in towards the girl called Jess, whispering the same plan the boy had told her. By now ther were all grinning.

Kaya sighed. "What little scheme have you come up with that concerns me?" She asked tiredly.

"Oh, there's no scheme!" Jess said, a large, fake grin plastered to her face.

The other girl nodded. "No, we just want you to join us. It's dangerous out there," She said.

Kaya frowned. "What's the catch?" She asked warily.

The boy jumped in then. "We need a scout. We need someone to get us food and find us shelter. In return we will give you safety. It's a _very_ fair deal," He said.

"Why didn't you just get another adult to be your slave?" Kaya asked tiredly.

None of them answered, and Kaya wasn't sure that she really wanted to know the answer. So she just nodded, knowing that she had no other choice. If she didn't accept their offer, she would be dead within the week.


	6. The Demon Inside

_I know that this chapter is stupidly long, but I had it planned out beforehand and I can't halve it or it'd be too short. Or not. Maybe I'm just lazy. Oh well. Now you must suffer and read, or your short attention spans will be the death of you!_

**Chapter 6: The Demon Inside**

_October 16, 2007_

_Dear Die-ary_

_It is day four of the blackout, and things have deteriorated beyond what even I thought they would. I'm starting to think that I should be counting hours, not days. We don't have any food in the house, and I'm afraid that my parents will do something drastic to change that. From here, things are going to get __really__ bad, __really__ fast, and I know that soon it will be a matter of life and death. I'm not exaggerating. I've seen too many people die in the past few days... Something weird is going on out there, and it's driving everyone crazy._

_Now I have to admit that I'm scared._

_Todd C._

-X-

Todd heard footsteps coming from the hall and put his head on the desk, tensing for the accusations his father will surely throw at him. But instead of the door slamming open, it creaked softly. Confused, Todd looked up to see his father's smiling face.

Yes, Todd Casil's father was smiling. It looked unnatural to Todd, his father's stress-lined face usually screwed up into a horrific scowl.

"Son? Your mother and I have a surprise for you. It's an idea we got from the neighbors," he said, beckoning for Todd to follow. Confused, and a bit intimidated, Todd let his father lead him to the front yard, ignoring a crash coming from the kitchen. It was probably just his mother looking for her pills.

A bonfire was set up in the middle of the road, with a spit set up over it, ready to roast a large chunk of meat. Its flickering light was eerie in the shadow of the sunset, dancing on the asphalt like it were alive. Todd had to say that he was impressed. A small table filled with various kitchen knives was set up on the driveway.

Almost hypnotised by the flame, there wasn't enough time for Todd to react. A piece of cloth was shoved in his mouth and his hands were being forced behind his back. A sharp pain shot up his arm and he tried to cry out, but the gag was tightened, muffling his screams. Todd turned his head to see his father's soft smile had become twisted into a maniacal grin as he bound and gagged his son.

At least this expression fit his face easily.

"You ruined out lives the second you were born, so maybe for once you can do something useful!" His father shouted. Todd's stomach dropped to his feet as he realised what his parents were planning: Cannibalism. They thought cannibalism was the answer to their problems. His father was going to eat him.

If Todd thought that was going to be the biggest traumatising shock of his life, then he was dead wrong. Nothing could have prepared him for what happened next.

_'__**This is wrong, Todd. Teach this horrible man a lesson...**__' _The voice echoed in his head like a church bell, the words ringing in his mind. And this time he didn't have the strength to refuse. Todd's arms moved of their own accord, wrenching out of his father's grasp. He spat out the cloth and dove for the table that held an assortment of knives, working against his own will.

"Get back here, boy!" His father's voice was furious as he ran at Todd.

He tried to regain control over his limbs, but it wasn't working. He wasn't strong enough.

_'__**Do it!**__'_ Todd's hand closed around the base of a kitchen knife. He brought it around, striking like lightning with a level of skill that he didn't have before. The blade sunk deep into his father's throat. His shouts were cut off with a gurgle. Todd ripped the blade out of his father's flesh and watched him fall, horrified.

Todd dropped the blade, letting it clatter to the ground as the pressure left his mind. The second he had control over his body again, he ran.

-X-

Johnny stepped away from a smashed window in a gas station, mourning the loss of a Brainfreezy machine. He realised that he probably wasn't going to have another icy treat in a long time, if ever. After taking a moment's silence, he continued on his way towards his old home, surprised that he remembered the way at all.

"Hey, faggot, gimme your money!" A group of men were suddenly standing in front of him like an impenetrable wall of flesh. One man was grinning and holding out his hand expectantly.

Nny shook his head sadly. "In case you haven't noticed, this town has no need for currency any more. If you had all the money in the world right now, what would you use it for? Why even bother with trivial things like that when you could be demanding food or water, things people in this town would kill for today?" He sighed, reaching deep into his coat pocket. "The proof is all around you, but your small minds do not allow you to see past your selfish desires." Unsheathing his knife, he beheaded two of them in one swift movement. "It saddens me that after all this time, you assholes haven't changed one bit."

Stepping over the bodies, Johnny looked around to see the other man trying to flee. He grinned and threw the knife with deadly accuracy, pinning the man to the wall through his mouth. The dead weight of his body made him slide down the wall and fall into a bloody heap.

Grinning slightly, Johnny turned around to see if anyone else had seen this little display. Just as he had expected, no one was there. "But, I have to admit, at times like these it's great to be home." He glanced over to the body, and the knife, saying, "You can keep that. Merry Christmas! No, wait..."

It was then that he noticed the man was dead. Johnny had to refrain from laughing as he continued down the street, towards his home. House number 777.

-X-

Todd Casil was running, as far and as fast as he could push his exhausted body to go. He was running from what was once his home. He was running from his drugged up mother. He was running from his father's bloody corpse.

He was running from himself. From what he had done.

His steel boots clicked on the concrete and his black hair was plastered to his forehead with sweat. Night had fallen, giving the entire city a cold, menacing feel. Todd was at the breaking point, needing to get away from reality. Too much had happened in the past few days and he needed to forget.

Fatigue got the best of him and he misplaced a foot, slipping on a stray bottle, and fell onto the hard concrete. Todd just lay there, the cool in the ground doing nothing for the terror he felt inside. His hands and knees were grazed, and started bleeding slowly.

"What are you doing to me?" He asked the voice in a whisper. The voice that had made him kill his father.

There was no reply. However, he did hear footsteps, and whispers. Not the supernatural kind, but a group of people arguing quietly. Thn one laughed loudly. "We could, you know. Desperate times call for desperate measures! This one looks pretty beaten up, anyway. Easy done."

He was hoisted up by the arms and dragged indoors. He felt warmer in there, like a fire was burning. This prompted him to open his eyes, and what he saw made him fly into a rage.

"What, am I suddenly a suitable meal for every one of you sick bastards?" He shouted, voice breaking with fear. There was a small fire burning inside, and he couldn't help thinking how stupid these people were. Then one face caught his attention at the same time she saw him. This was getting worse by the second.

"Nice to see you again, child," She said. "I think my boys and I have some unfinished business with you and you little friend. Oh, wait, she's not here, is she? What happened... She fall down a deep, dark hole?" She asked with mock-concern. Then her face hardened. "Too bad she isn't here to save you again."

Todd groaned in pain as the man restraining him pushed him to his knees. "I think it's fitting that you'll become our next meal. A life for a life, eh?" He said, recalling when Kaya had cut the other man's throat.

"I don't think so." A low voice echoed through the room, and suddenly the large end of a shovel came down upon the man's head. He fell to the ground, groaning, and Todd looked around to see Kaya holding the dirty thing by her side triumphantly. It looked like it had been used recently, probably to bury a body.

Kaya grinned. "I think a horrible, horrible death is in order!" She said cheerily, bringing the shovel down hard. There was a sickening crunch as the man's neck snapped.

Todd stood up to avoid the blood pooling around him, and turned to the woman. He grabbed her by the arm and threw her onto the path of Kaya's shovel, and she crumpled to the ground. It was impossible to tell whether she was unconscious or not, but either way, she wasn't moving. The other man was nowhere to be seen, so Todd just left well enough alone.

"Now we're even," She said, grinning slightly.

Todd, though he was grateful for her help, was confused. "How did you know I was here?" He asked.

She bit her lip. "I... kind of followed you," she said, embarrassed.

Todd frowned and looked at Kaya's shovel, caked in mud and blood, then glanced back at her face. He noticed that she had a very vacant expression. "Kaya?" He asked worriedly.

Suddenly the air felt cold, and Todd realised what that meant just soon enough. "What do you want!?" He asked the voice, scared of what it could make him do.

_'__**You know what I want.**__'_ Todd squeezed his eyes shut and took a deep breath, silently battling the demon in his head. _'__**It'll happen again, and it will be your own choice when it does. You will become a killer yet...**__'_ A smooth laugh filled the air, and he tensed.

"No!" His and Kaya's synchronised voices echoed through the building, and the mind voice, along with the cold and the pressure, disappeared in an instant.

Todd and Kaya stared at each other. "That... wasn't me. I'm not going to kill again." The girl growled, staring at the body at her feet.

"What the... You heard it?" Todd asked, shocked. "You _heard_ my headvoice?"

Kaya bit her lip. "I... Look over there!" She shouted, pointing into the depths of the building. Like a fool, Todd turned slightly. The girl took that as her chance to flee the place.

Recovered from the shock of being so stupid, Todd followed her at a full sprint, which was slower than usual because of how much the day had taken out of him. She glanced back to see that she was being pursued, and pushed her legs faster. Todd did the same, but he lost her pretty soon as she rounded a corner. She could be anywhere.

He heard a door slam, and followed the sound. Todd found himself at the foot of an apartment building. He slammed into the door hard, but instead of it blocking his way, it flew wide open. He stumbled into an unlit room, the ugly grey walls cracked and peeling, and returned the sharp gazes of four teenagers, one of them being Kaya.

She held the shovel she had used to kill the man over his neck, then motioned for him to stand up. Todd followed her direction, careful not to make any sudden moves. She glanced back to the other three warily, then focused her glare on Todd. He met her gaze squarely, a silent communication running between them.

Kaya sighed and lowered the shovel. "Sorry about that," She said quietly. "Things have been... less than normal, lately. I guess I'm not thinking straight."

"What are you doing? Gat him out of here! You don't know who he is or why he's here, so why are you letting your guard down!?" A panicked voice from one of the teenagers intruded. The brunette girl, Jess, was cowering behind the other two, trying to save herself from the strange person that had just chased Kaya into their base.

Kaya stared for a second, then she burst out laughing. "Do it yourself! You make me do everything else, so why can't you and your friends take guard duty for once?" She said, gasping for breath. "If I weren't here, you three would be starving! If Squee was a savage killer, you would be dead! I don't see why you're still ordering me around, Jess. _I'm_ the reason you're still _alive!_ All of you! And you call yourself a leader, Lucas? All you've done so far is stay up a few hours after sunset and demand that I go look for food! You people make me sick! I think I'll go vomit, actually. It's a better feeling than having to listen to your constant complaints!" By the end of it, Kaya was panting. A few giggles erupted from her tightly closed mouth, but apart from that, she seemed to be done talking for a while.

"Are you finished?" Todd asked. When she nodded, he continued to speak to the trio. "Okay, if you need to know more about me... I am an occultist who eats human flesh on a daily basis, and I beleive that this power outage is the beginning of the apocalypse. I can move objects with my mind and my second personality has the power to make you eyeballs explode, along with the ability to see the future. And I turn into a giant spider-demon that needs to drink human blood at every full moon," He said, trying to keep a straight face.

The three looked paler than before, and Kaya started laughing again. She was clutching her sides and rolling around on the floor, and Todd couldn't help but doubt her sanity once more. He smiled slightly and sat down opposite to the others.

When she could breathe again, Kaya asked, "So, are you staying?" If he didn't know any better, Todd would say she sounded hopeful.

It was a while before Todd answered. "I... Yes," he said. He knew that returning home was out of the question.

Suddenly a very welcome voice appeared in Todd's head. _'Squee!'_ Shmee said, shocked.

"What?" Todd asked aloud, shocked. That earned him a few glares, but he ignored them.

_'Look, Squee, something terrible is going on! I managed to get away, but only for a few seconds. You have to listen to me!'_ The bear said urgently. _'The voice - the creature - it's taking over! You have to - fight! Squee, goddammit, don't let it take over! I can't - stay - long. It's coming! Don't let it-'_ His gasping voice was cut off suddenly, and Todd's mind felt empty.

_Shmee!_ Todd shouted in his mind. He took the piece of stuffing out of his pocket that had once belonged to the bear, and saw with horror that it had begun to turn black, the darkness spreading like it was alive. Shaking, he carefully placed it back into his pocket, not knowing what to think. The voice had power, and it was overcoming Shmee. Somehow. Todd didn't know what he could do, so he just sat there, staring into space, horrible images of his childhood nightmares swirling in his mind.

Kaya's voice was low when she said, "I'll take the first watch." Eyes wide, she carefully laid the shovel beside her, not bothering to wipe off the blood.

Todd just nodded absently. He realised that whatever was plaguing him had gotten to Shmee first, probably so the bear couldn't interfere. But the peice of Shmee Todd had kept with him had allowed him to escape breifly and send Todd a message... But it wasn't a message, really.

It was a warning.

-X-

Johnny's attention was drawn from his home to his neighbor's driveway. A dark form stained the pale slab of concrete, shapeless in the night. He wondered if Squee still lived there.

Approaching the shape, he saw with horror that it was a body. Usually the sight of a body would make him laugh, depending on the severity of its wounds, but not this particular one. This body was familiar... It was the body of Squee's father.

Semi-fresh blood pooled around a deep wound in the neck, and a common kitchen knife was lying next to it. Johnny wondered who had done this... but the first name his mind came up with sent shivers up his spine.

No, little Squeegee could not have done this. That kid wasn't supposed to become anything like himself. It was probably one of the starved neighbors.

Just to make sure, though, Johnny entered the house through Squee's bedroom window. He saw that the ugly grey carpet had been pulled up to reveal polished floorboards, but apart from that, not much had changed. Just like he used to, Johnny cursed Squee's parents for making his life horrible.

He searched the room and found no signs of life. The beaten-up form of Shmee was on the desk, but he didn't seem to feel like talking. Strange... Nny didn't remember Shmee being black. Oh well. Also on the desk was something that caught his interest immensely... It was his old journal.

He read Squee's entries one by one, slowly finding out everything he needed to know about what had happened in the town. He also saw that the girl had not been lying abut meeting Squee. Pocketing the journal, Johnny swept out of the room.

He continued to search the house, but the only thing that even remotely resembled a living creature was Squee's drugged up mother. Not knowing what else to do, he attempted to communicate with the creature. "What happened outside?" He asked warily.

The woman grinned, not bothering to open her eyes. "My husband ate my son. He's in the study. Go bother him, little girl."

Nny was shocked, not only by the fact that this woman didn't seem to be connected to reality in any way. "He _ate_ Squee?" He asked.

She groaned and rolled over, falling off the couch. Then a gurgle sounded in her stomach and sickly yellow vomit erupted from her mouth. She began to sing and roll around in the mess, while Johnny grimaced and exited the old house. As he crossed the lawn, he wondered if this previous assumptions about Squee were correct; even a _normal _kid would want to kill parents like that.

Opening his door carefully, Johnny was relieved to see that after nine years everything was still exactly where he left it... even Reverend Meat, unfortunately.

_'Look what the cat dragged in,'_ The figure stated smugly. _'I assume that because you have returned, you have decided to give up your quest for coldness?'_

The voice was such a surprise that Nny tripped over a box of nails and fell to the floor with a dull _thud_.

"Shut up, Meat. I came back because I had to," Nny said tiredly. The burger boy didn't say another word, and Nny sighed. "Home, sweet home," He said sarcastically. Then he groaned as the pain of his spine being doubled over itself set in.


	7. Nightmares

_This is a crappy chapter. But the majority of the chapters will be like this, so stop reading now if you hated this one beyond belief. But don't worry, the plot isn't without its twists._

_Reviews are greatly appreciated!! My lone brain cell needs company._

**Chapter 7: Nightmares**

_'__**I'm getting bored. You haven't killed in ages, Squee! This is taking longer than it should.**__'_ The disembodied voice was a cold pressure on Todd's mind as it lightly persuaded him to kill.

Todd squeezed his eyes shut. _I'm not going to murder anyone else,_ He thought stubbornly. He had been trying his hardest to suppress what had happened at sunset, and this conversation was reopening those weakly stitched wounds.

He was sitting alone in the furthest corner of the room, head resting on his knees until the voice appeared. He then sat up straight and clenched his fists, determined not to let the voice affect him as much as it had in the past.

_'__**You know I could make you.**__'_

_Maybe. But there's a reason you're not, and I intend to exploit it mercilessly, _He retorted._ When I find out what it is, that is._

The voice chuckled. _'__**Heh, you **__**are**__** a smart one. In due time, Squee, in due time. Until then, just do your job like a good little boy.**__'_

_It's not my job to kill!_

_'__**In that case, I think you may need a little encouragement...**__'_

_What does that mean?_ Todd asked angrily.

_'__**I'll tell you what it means, Squee. It means that your every nightmare will come back to haunt you. The dead will walk the streets, the very shadows will become your enemy if you don't do as I ask. It's not really worth it, is it, Squee?**__'_ It sounded like a kind adult were talking to a small child that couldn't understand the concept of death._'__**You will lose everyone you have ever cared about, and we don't want that.**__'_

_I don't know what you're talking about. There are few in this world I have ever cared about, and you've already corrupted one of them! Shmee was just a bear! What did you do to him?_

_'__**That idiot voice would have intervened. I put him out of the picture... And I mean exactly what I say. If you don't learn to kill, many more will die.**__'_

_Why can't you just kill people yourself, then!? What do you need me for?_

_'__**I can only do so much without a body. I can't control that which I have summoned due to my lack of power, and that means too many will die if I do summon them. That would be the opposite of productive. But once should not make much of a difference, seeing as it is to motivate you to do your job.**__'_

"That's impossible," Todd muttered aloud. Somehow saying it helped him believe it was true.

Someone cleared their throat from across the room. Surprised, Todd turned to see Kaya was sitting in the corner, hugging her knees. "No, it's not." She said, her voice low.

"What?"

Kaya shook her head. "It's not impossible. What the... the voice is threatening."

Todd frowned. "How did you..."

"The reason I don't hear my own voices is because... because I hear everyone else's. There are more than you might think in the world," She continued. "I don't like to listen into private conversations, but this seemed important. That voice..." She trailed off.

Todd was shocked beyond didn't even know she was awake, let alone hearing _his_ headvoice!

Kaya continued when it became evident that Todd wasn't going to say anything. "That voice talks to me, too. But it... It's _nice_ to me, Squee. It comforts me, and it tries to make me happy. I only killed those people because I was reacting to the way it speaks to you. It _apologised_ for making me do that."

Todd found his tongue again and asked, "_What_? How can it treat us so differently?" There was a pause. "What does it want?" He asked, his mind elsewhere.

The girl had no answer, but continued her story. "Once, before I got in... When I was calm and content for the first time since the voice appeared... It tried to make me commit suicide. Out of nowhere, _something_ started controlling my arms. It made me get the razor... I wasn't prepared for an attack on my mind." She bared a bony arm, revealing a rough scar near the elbow. "I made it let me go in time to divert the blade. It still hurt, though. Trust me, I need to know what it wants just as much as you do."

Once again, she sounded like a lost child, and Todd didn't know what to say. They had some big problems on their hands... "Are you sure it's the same voice?" He asked.

Kaya nodded once and resettled in her too-big jacket. "I know it has power, and... I wouldn't put it past it to have the ability to carry out its threats."

"Wait... how could you have heard us? Did you read my mind?" Todd asked suspiciously.

Kaya cracked a smile. "No, I can't do that. Just hear headvoices. But I could read your face... you're so easy to read." She chuckled.

This made Todd scowl.

Kaya sighed. "Oh, don't be so sour. You were in such a better mood when I met you and things were normal...er," she commented absently. "At least I can laugh about the situation. You've become the equivalent of a friendless lawyer, all straight-faced and business... They scare me. Look, Squee, the only way you're going to get through this without getting all angsty and depressed is f you try to make the best of things for once. Even if this is possibly the worst thing that has ever happened to this town and everyone in it, and will permanently scar every survivor. At least _try_ to smile!" She started counting on her fingers for some odd reason.

Todd shook his head sadly. This is the company he has involved himself in. Well, that and a bunch of terrified teenagers that shouldn't be alive right now. He then noticed that Kaya had stopped talking and looked up.

She was invisible under her jacket, just a writhing mass of brown leather in the darkness. Todd sighed. "What are you doing?" He asked flatly.

"I'm looking for... Aha!" She emerged from the pile holding a small, shiny object in one hand triumphantly. It was a mirror. She then wasted no time in throwing at him. It smashed on his arm, and he made a face.

"What the hell was that for?" He asked.

"I want to test a theory... I might not live long enough to test it on anybody else, so you'll do."

"And what theory might that be?"

Kaya settled into the jacket again. "I want to test the superstition theory. Technically, you broke the mirror. If that's so, then you will have bad luck."

"Is now really the best time to curse someone with bad luck!?" He asked, a little panicked. "We have bigger problems here!"

"But I really wanted to get rid of the mirror. It was annoying to carry around." She then shrugged and fell silent.

Todd sighed as he watched her stare at him. It was a little disturbing, really. "Why aren't you asleep? You look exhausted," he said, noting the dark circles under her eyes.

The girl flinched at the question, but she answered. "I don't sleep... I wish I could, though. It's be nice to be able to escape sometimes." She hesitated for a second, then continued. "I don't eat, either. I mean, I can, but I just don't get hungry. That's... not normal, is it?"

Todd was surprised, but he didn't say a word. he was used to surprises by now. He heard her sniff and saw a tear leak from the corner of her eye. Now he was more confused than ever.

She looked up at him once more, her eyes slightly wet. "I haven't told that to anyone else. Is it... Is it stupid for me to trust someone so completely? Someone I've only just met?" She asked.

The situation demanded an answer, but Todd had no idea what to say. "I guess..." he started uncertainly. "But you don't seem to _know_ anyone else worth trusting," He said. "Maybe it's just because you can't remember anything else. I don't know... but yes, it is stupid. There are too many people in this world that would take advantage of someone's trust..." He grinned slightly, meeting her eyes. "But you _can_ trust me. Probably not with your life because I'm an antisocial coward, but I can keep a secret."

Kaya sniffed. "Thanks, Squee. Ugh, all this emotional vomit is giving me a headache," She said. "I'm going to zone out for a few hours and hope it feels something similar to sleep." Patting the bloody shovel beside her, the strange girl's eyes glazed over until she looked like nothing more than a corpse.

It was then Todd realised something that made him want to laugh and cry as he remembered everything that had happened that day. The voice... The cannibals... His father...

It was his sixteenth birthday.

-X-

Johnny stepped around a couple of bodies, wondering how they got there. Although, this is... er, _was_ a food shop, so leftover carnage was probably to be expected. People will do anything to get what they wanted.

He browsed the isles, searching for anything worth taking home. The stench of spoiled meat filled his nostrils and made him grimace, so he backtracked and found himself with the canned food.

Collecting what he needed, Johnny was about to head for the exit when voices caught his attention. He ducked below the shelves and listend closer, not wanting a confrontation right now; he wanted to get these supplies home... Not that he _needed_ to eat. he just liked Skettios.

The voices were female, or the majority of them, anyway. Johnny managed to catch some of their conversation.

"...need this more. It's necessary, and there's safety in numbers," one voice stated in a convincing tone.

There was a sigh coming from one of the women, then a man's voice chimed in. "C'mon, Tess! We don't need them, baby. I'll protect you," he said.

"And _you_ can shut the fuck up, Mark! We're _over! _I'm wondering how long it'll take to get that through your thick head!" The first woman shouted. That name was familiar somehow, but Johnny couldn't quite put his finger on it.

"Will you guys shut it? I want to be out of here _before_ we get killed by a psychopathic asylum escapee." That voice was so familiar Johnny dropped a can; he let it roll under the shelf and out of sight. Devi. She had survived this long, and he wasn't sure if he was glad for that or not.

They heard the can clatter to the ground. Someone whispered something too low for Johnny to hear, but the sound of someone cocking a gun reached his ears. He tensed and stood so he wouldn't be found cowering into the chili powder.

The barrel of a pistol swung around to point straight at his skull, held by Tess. She motioned for him to move into the open, and he did so, bowing but not dropping the cans. "Hello, Devi." He greeted the purple-haired woman. Then he turned to Tess. "You know those don't work, right?" He said, looking at the gun.

Tess sighed and lowered it. "People still seem to be just as scared of them, though."

Devi recovered from the initial shock of meeting her ex-lover/attempted murderer. "Take the gun back out!" She said, her voice panicked. "Do you know what this man is!?"

The black-haired woman nodded. "I know exactly what he is. Technically he killed my former boyfriend, Dillon, and _he_ is the reason I carry a gun around in the first place. The world is an unfriendly place, and one must always be prepared for the unexpected."

That was when Johnny recognised the her. "Oh. Sorry about that, I guess," he said.

Tess shook her head. "I should be thanking you. It wasn't working out with him anyway."

Devi growled and marched up to Johnny. Before he could react, she punched him in the face, sending the cans flying. "You're supposed to be _gone!_" She screamed. "Why did you come back? _Answer me!_"

Johnny straightened and wiped blood from his nose. "I got bored of living in a different place where all the people were the same," he growled. "I might as well have my old house back if it's going to be like that."

Before they could argue further, a shriek pierced the air. It was coming from the back of the shop.

Everyone turned to see a woman stagger towards them, leaving a trail of blood with every step. Her skin was a sickly grey and her eyes rolled back into her head, her chocolate hair was plastered to her face with the stuff. She coughed and moaned, more bubbling to her lips, staining them crimson. She seemed to stare at them for a second, then let out an unearthly, bone-chilling shriek.

Tess screamed and threw the gun at her. The woman... the _thing_ lunged at them, catching Mark unaware. The two crashed to the floor, and there was a sickening ripping sound. Suddenly both of Mark's arms slid to Tess's feet. Her jaw dropped.

Mark started screaming in pain, writhing on the floor. His eyes rolled into the back of his head and he started spewing blood. He wormed his way to Tess's feet, beside his discarded arm, and started snapping at her ankles like a beached shark.

She screamed and staggered back as a twelve-inch blade was jammed into the back of his head. Johnny raced up to collect it, then swiftly dismembered the other thing. Panting, he slipped the blade into a hidden sheath in his boot.

Devi spoke up, her voice hoarse. "I've seen too many zombie movies not to know the signs," She said in a panicked voice.

Johnny turned to her, his face expressionless. "I hope you have a place to stay in mind, because I don't feel like dying _again_ any time soon. Trust me, it's not a pleasant experience."

Devi merely nodded, jumping when there was more screeching coming from the bowels of the shop. _[Heh, bowels... Sorry.]_

Motioning for the other two to follow, Devi led the way back to her apartment, as loathe as she was to bringing Johnny with them. The second they got in, the doors and windows were boarded up and everyone bar Johnny himself was huddled on the lounge, expecting to be swallowed up by the shadows any second.


	8. Bleeding Eyes

_I have made it from the void alive, and so I give you another chapter of this horrible fic... Though your reviews seem to say differently. I give you all my thanks._

_Yay, death!_

**Chapter 8: Bleeding Eyes**

Reverend Meat had seen exactly what had happened to his host. Sitting on a dusty wooden crate in the loungeroom, he grinned. The plastic fugure dropped his hamburger and jumped off the box.

He was ecstatic that Johnny wasn't going to come home any time soon. Meat had been dealing with things just fine before _he_ came, and would be happier to continue that way. He sauntered over to the basement door and descended the stairway.

On the first floor there was a door that Johnny had not noticed when he had originally searched through the basement, being more intrigued with the rest of the place to look too carefully there. So Meat figured it would be the perfect place to store them... Somewhere Johnny wouldn't think to look. It would be absolutely terrible if things were set into motion before they were due.

Meat chuckled and brought a fist to the wall, opening a wooden door that was all but invisible when it was closed. A single candle in the corner of the room flared to life as Meat willed it to do so.

The room was small, but it didn't need to be any larger for it held the two quite nicely. They were only made of Styrofoam, after all.

"Ah, Eff and D-Boy, my defective Styrofoam chums. So nice to see you again," Meat greeted them mockingly.

The one on the right with hypnotic crimson eyes and the word 'FUCK' clearly printed on his shirt opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came out. Psychodoughboy, working around the blade that was pinning him to the wall behind, clutched his throat in shock.

Meat chuckled. "Oh, yes. I almost forgot." The instant he thought that, both Doughboys had their voices back.

D-Boy realised this and started shrieking the most vile things he could think of at Reverend Meat. He waved it off with a laugh, but his grin faded when he noticed the other one, just hanging there silently. Mr. Eff's eyes were a brilliant red, and they were fixed on the plastic figure standing below him.

Meat raised a brow questioningly, and asked, "Nothing to say, Eff?"

He spoke then, his voice seething with hatred. "We were not defective, _Meat,_" Eff said, as if it were an insult. "We were free. And we will be again."

Meat clicked his nonexistent tongue at the figure. "No, no, Eff, you poor, misinformed creature. There is no escape." Grinning, he pointed a chubby plastic finger at him. Eff began to writhe in pain, twisting around the knife that was lodged in his face.

Now, before all this, the Doughboys couldn't feel pain. Of course they couldn't; they're made of Styrofoam. But the kind of pain Meat is inflicting isn't physical. It directly affects the mind and, since Eff and D-Boy had become independent, they had acquired minds of their own. So, unused to actual pain, this was agonizing beyond belief. Also, a twelve-inch blade lodged in your nose isn't the most comfortable way to be hanging from a wall. Just imagine, and be glad you are not in his position.

The pain wore off, leaving Eff feeling like he had been tied to a stake and burnt.

D-Boy continued to shriek at Reverend Meat, insults, threats and cutting remarks flying through the air unnoticed. "You vile lump of fat and plastic! Finally, after all my hard work, I to fall into the oblivion of nothingness, just to have _you_ drag me back out! Fook! When I get out of this, I swear you will _pay!_ Never again will I have to endure your presence, oozing into every corner! I will personally make sure your corpse is left to rot for a thousand years on the bottom of a dungheap! All I wanted was to _not exist!_ You destroyed my only chance to rest! My only opportunity to leave this world! Grargh! I'll cut you up and feed you to Eff, then I'll burn him! I'll lock the ashes in a box and bury it a thousand feet underground! Argh!"

"We will escape," Eff stated in a low voice.

"Why did you bring us back!? Answer me, Meat!" It was infuriating, the way they were both completely ignoring D-Boy's rants.

Meat's grin widened. "My power is far greater than your own, Mr. Eff. Mere independence is not enough to save you."

"Not really. We _earned_ our power with our own strength of mind, whereas you got yours because you're a kiss-ass. We are able to keep our powers, but if you anger the Master, you will become nothing but a pile of melted plastic," Eff answered with a gleam in his eye. He knew that taunting his captor would get him nowhere, but it couldn't be helped. Meat just had a _mockable_ personality. It was so fun to wind him up, even if it did result in agonizing pain for himself.

At least, he thought he was the one that was infuriating Reverend Meat. The plastic figure was red in the face as he pointed a finger at the raving Psychodoughboy. He growled in pain and then fell silent, the absence of sound ringing in the air. D-Boy's hypnotic red eyes were burning with anger, though, and they were fixed on Meat.

Eff's voice shattered the silence. "As D-Boy said, we will escape. And you will die."

Meat chuckled darkly as he exited the room. "We'll see," He said, then he hit the wall again and the door slid closed. Content with his work, he marched back up the stairs.

Back in the small room it was pitch black. Almost. Two pairs of crimson eyes pierced the darkness like beacons, burning with hatred and determination.

-X-

_They were waiting. Take the two, kill the rest. They had to watch for the signal to move in... But they were the Master's orders, and the Shadows were never good with following instructions..._

Todd woke with a start as a pressure was placed roughly over his mouth. His panicked eyes met Kaya's, and she pulled her hand back to put a finger to her lips. _Quiet._ Her face was pale, and her eyes were wide with some sort of fear. She motioned for him to follow her, and Todd complied, knowing it must be serious. Her expression told the tale that words could not describe; The voice was back, and something had happened.

Wiping the sleep from his eyes, he saw the girl point towards the door to the building... There must be someone... or _something_ outside. Then she crawled over to the others and began to wake them quietly, too.

Todd froze as he heard the sound of claws tapping on the concrete outside.

It all happened vary fast then. The girl had pushed Kaya away with a loud "Hey" as she was woken, and that woke the others as well. It also alerted whatever was outside the building.

They descended, a group of about five or six... Whatever they were, it wasn't human. Their skin was a sickly grey, like all the blood had drained from their bodies, and their short snouts were lined with rows of deadly-looking teeth. But there was something... _human_ about them. The way their faces were constructed, the way they held bodies of skin stretched taut over bone. Their eyes were rolled into the back of their heads so far that they were bleeding. On the tips of their skeletal fingers and toes were four ten-inch, razor sharp claws.

They swarmed into the room like wolves on an injured deer; their prey was helpless against them. Their speed was uncanny, their reflexes like lightning. Hisses and screams like that coming from the very throat of a banshee pierced the walls.

Kaya had jumped aside the second the other girl had shouted, but it wasn't enough to save her from a deep cut in her leg. The pain not having set in yet, Kaya ran for the door, Jess and Todd following closely behind. The creatures were fighting amongst themselves for the other two that they had already captured. Screams of pain filled the air and Lucas's head, cleanly skiced from his body, rolled to the floor.

One of them skidded in front of Todd, separating him from the others, its bleeding eyes locked on him. Todd wheeled and tried for another exit, abandoning Kaya and Jess, but saw with dismay that he had nowhere to go but up. He mounted the long, spiraling staircase at a full sprint, certain that the thing was following close behind. Maybe more had joined the chase, but he wasn't game enough to check.

Terror raced through his veins like fire and ice, and sweat beaded on his forehead as he climbed the staircase. He rounded the corner and was out of sight, the creatures gaining on him rapidly.

"Squee!" Kaya screamed. She would have gone after him, but Jess held her back, dragging her outside before the creatures were done with their former allies.

Tears of fear and pain were streaming from her eyes as she was forced to run from the only safe place she had to since she had woken up a week ago. Hissing shreiks followed them not long after they had escaped the building, the creatures' claws clicking heavily on the asphalt.

Jess heard them and, after a moment of conflicting thoughts, let go of Kaya and ran ahead, saving herself and letting the brown-haired girl limp for her life. Kaya screamed as a claw slashed through her back muscles, and she fell to the ground, hard.

The pain was unbearable as the creatures descended upon her, tearing into her flesh.


	9. Alone Again

_I estimate about 17 chapters, and possibly a sequel. Just a future warning, or whatever you like to call it._

**Chapter 9: Alone Again**

Todd was on the second story of the building, and was convinced that he wasn't going to make it out alive. He had managed to lose them at intersecting hallways, but it wouldn't last long. He was currently trying to find a place to hide before they came looking down the right one.

There was a huff from around the corner, and one of the creatures stuck their head around the corner. It dragged its claws along the wall, leaving a trail of Lucas's blood behind. Its eyes may not work, but the thing could smell fear. And Todd was just down the hall, more terrified than he had ever been in his life.

Todd turned around and, knowing that this was his last chance, banged on the door behind him. "Let me in!" He screamed, slamming himself into the door as the creature approached with growing speed.

The door flew open just in time for Todd to avoid being impaled on those razor claws. He whirled and slammed it shut again as the creature slid clear past the door, fighting its momentum. It hissed and shreiked, then tried to break the door down.

Todd pushed against it for dear life, and another body joined his in the battle. He looked over briefly to see a woman with a long coat and short black hair helping him bar the door.

She nodded to Todd quickly, then started shouting orders to the others Tod assumed were in the house. "Devi! Get something to bar the door with! Scott, for god's sake, help us!" She gasped.

The center of the door was splintering, and the creature's heavy breathing could be heard from the other side as its face was pressed against it. "NOW!" Tess screamed. The sound of heavy boots approached swiftly.

"MOVE!" A male voice ordered, and Todd had just enough time to duck before a knife went whizzing through the air, impaling the door and embedding itself in the creatures skull on the other side. It whimpered once, then fell to the floor with a thud, the knife still wedged in the door.

"Are there more?" The same voice asked, as its owned raced up to collect the now bloody blade.

Squee nodded. "I think it went upstairs further..." He trailed off as he got a good look at the figure in front of him. Scrawny frame, unkempt hair, long coat, combat coots, sickly yellow skin... "Nny?" He asked uncertainly.

Johnny's glare was piercing as he met Todd's eyes. Suddenly the knife he was holding was embedded in the door once more, this time uncomfortably close to Todd's face. "How do you know my name?" He asked flatly.

Todd shook his head slowly, not believing his eyes. "Nny, it's me, Todd! Todd Casil!"

The man froze, his hand still on the hilt of the blade beside Todd's head. Suddenly Todd was afraid of what Johnny's reaction might be...

A small smile appeared on his face. It soon widened into an ear-to-ear grin, and Johnny started laughing. Tess stared at him like he was a madman, but then she remembered that he was. Who knows who this strange boy could be?

"Squee?" He asked incredulously, letting go of the knife and straightening. "I always knew you would survive the apocalypse," He said.

The temperature in the room dropped, and Todd was unprepared for the force in which the voice appeared. _'__**Save her, you fool!**__'_ It screeched. Todd growled in pain, clutching his head.

_What...? Is Kaya dead!?_ Todd asked, shocked.

_'__**Not yet, idiot! We need her, though, and she'll be dead in a few seconds if we don't do something!**__'_ It said, the flawless, powerful first impression it made wiped off the map completely. _'__**Ugh, must I do everything myself!?**__'_ It asked.

_But she can't be dead! Kaya... She can't die..._

_'__**I... Yes! That's it!**__'_ The voice disappeared as soon as it came, and the room warmed up again. Todd realised that he was still on the floor, but he didn't care. Ice spread through his limbs, freezing them in place. Metaphorical ice, of course. The voice had left. But...

_She can't be dead... _Since the day he had met her, Todd had thought Kaya was invincible. She sure acted like it, throwing herself into the most dangerous situations without a second thought and coming out unscathed. But this time...

"Squee? Squee, are you okay?" Johnny's voice shattered the coldness, and Todd stood up slowly.

He turned to Johnny. "Is... is there anywhere I can wash up?"

The man shook his head, a deadly serious expression on his face. "Squee. What kind of voices do you hear?" He asked.

"How did you know I hear voices?" It was the exact same question he had asked Kaya, and it made him wonder... "Can you hear everyone else's headvoices? Like she could?"

Johnny was shocked that Todd had picked up on that. He nodded slowly. "I heard it then... What does that voice tell you?" He asked warily.

Todd met the man's gaze squarely. "It made me kill my father. And it says it's my job to kill." He didn't know what reaction this would bring out of Johnny, but there was no point in lying to him. So he could make what he could of the truth...

Johnny was shocked, then his face was contorted into a mask of rage. "No... I thought it _died _when I did... _It was supposed to die!_" He looked up and started shouting at the ceiling. "YOU FUCKING BASTARD!!" He growled and threw the knife at the wall next to the entrance to the hall, right beside Devi's shocked face. He then stormed past her and into one of the rooms.

Devi glared at the blade in the wall, then shouted back at Johnny. "You're paying for that!" She then marched into the room. She saw Todd then, and glared at Tess. "Not _another_ stray?" She asked angrily.

Tess shook her head. "No. A friend of Nny's, apparently."

Devi huffed a sigh. "Should've left him for the zombies," She muttered. "So, who might you be? I was under the impression that pitiful excuse for a human didn't have any friends," She said, addressing Todd.

"I'm Squee, Nny's old neighbor. But I don't think introductions are necessary just yet, because I think that the other creature will be at this door any moment." The boy said, glancing nervously at the door.

Tess nodded and went to start piling furniture against the door. Devi was staring st Todd. "Are you by any chance related to the asshole in the other room?" She asked, referring to Johnny.

"No. Um... If I may ask, why are you so rude to Nny?"

Devi shook her head. "No, considering what happened a few years ago, I'm being nicer than I should be. I broke his nose yesterday," She stated proudly.

Todd was shocked that Johnny would let someone do that and not murder them horribly. But he figured it was best not to pry into their private lives. Although, tod had a pretty good guess at what had happened to make this woman so hateful towards his old neighbor.

So, instead of getting to know the people he was now apparently staying with, he continued to bar the door with the heaviest furniture he could find. He needed to keep his mind off other, more depressing topics.

But, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't help but feel depressed at Kaya's death. It was hard to believe, even though he had only known her for a few days. She was his friend, and he had abandoned her to the creatures. He tried over and over to think a way he could have escaped that situation, but there was nothing he could have done.

It didn't make him feel any better. Because, deep down, he knew that he needed her as much as she needed him. The creature wanted them both, so the best thing they could have done was to fight it together. But now he felt more alone than ever, and truly, he was. Johnny was a stranger to him. He didn't want to get to know the others in this house.

The thought left a lump in his throat. He was alone. Again.

-X-

She was waiting for death to claim her, hoping that it would come sooner rather than later.

But it never came.

Kaya lay on the ground, white-hot agony burning through her severed veins. She should have bled to death by now. The creatures should have eaten her by now. She should have drowned in her own blood. She should have...

She should be dead. But she wasn't, however much she wished she was. Her throat was ripped open and her voicebox was no longer functional, so the girl couldn't plead to the creatures for death. Her leg was mostly severed. She couldn't move the left side of her body. Blood was streaming into her face, blinding her and choking her. Suffocating her.

The girl wasn't breathing, but she was alive. Somehow.

The creatures hadn't left, but they seemed to give up on eating her. Instead, they dragged their razor claws across her flesh, curious, rather than savege. They were torturing the girl, but something prevented them from killing her.

There was a shout in the distance, and a burst of warmth flared in front of her face. She managed to see a small amount of bright green before her eye forced itself closed agian.

The creatures hissed and shreiked, then they were gone. They must have fled the scene, but from what, she couldn't guess. Kaya managed a whimper as the pain in her body doubled. She cringed into a ball, trying to escape, but no matter which way she twisted and turned, the pain was still there.

She screamed. The sound rang in the dead street, echoing in her head. The sound of footsteps drowned it out as they approached.

The pain stopped, and Kaya could feel her consciousness flickering. She felt a pressure on her wrist, like someone was checking her pulse. Before she blacked out, the girl saw a silver lock hanging around someone's neck on a chain.

It was almost hypnotising, the way it swayed back and forth. A wary voice with a soft Spanish accent chimed in her head. "_What are you?_"

She fell into unconsciousness before she could answer that she didn't know.


	10. Over The Edge

_Ebola is a disease that causes severe hemorrhaging and internal/external bleeding, makes you cry/spew blood, is highly contagious, and other symptoms that I can't remember. Can you guess where I got those zombie-virus-uglies from? Just a note: If my guys don't bleed to death within a few hours of contracting the virus, they become those Shadow-things. Which makes them better than you, doesn't it?_

_Ebola is fun._

**Chapter 10: Over The Edge**

_She is standing, alone, in a stone valley, surrounded by smoking, ashy mountains. Blood flows in rivers around her feet. The blood of her friends... Her family. She is so close to remembering... Then pain explodes behind her eyes and she falls to her knees, trying to rid herself of the weight... Bright green fire encompasses her, and two pairs of crimson eyes pierced the flame... They're calling to her, looking for a way to escape... Then the fire is doused by shimmering liquid shadows and the girl is falling..._

Kaya woke with a gasp, sweat plastering her messy hair to her forehead. She sat up quickly and opened her eyes, but she almost fell down again when the blood rushed to her head.

_I shouldn't be here,_ was the first coherent thought that ran through her mind. _I should have died..._

The girl scanned the room she was in, noting a low and irritating buzzing noise coming from somewhere behind her. The room was clean and sterile, and the bed she was in wasn't the most comfortable. Then she recognised the type of room she was in: A hospital. _How...?_ Kaya saw a couple of machines buzzing, and traced the wires with her eyes until it became apparent that she was attached to them. That was the source of the noise. _Wait a second..._

_Power! The machines run on electricity!_ Kaya ripped the wires from her body and swung her legs out of the bed, vaguely noticing that she was now wearing a sterile white suit and slippers. She almost fell over the machines, following the power cords to the wall... where they weren't plugged in. However this machine was getting its power, it wasn't from electricity. A battery, maybe...?

The buzzing stopped suddenly, and Kaya froze in her hunched position. The silence weighed heavily on her mind. She was suddenly acutely aware of everything; the feel of a light breeze in the room; a thick, uncomfortable and foreign taste on her tongue; the sound of shuffling feet just outside the door.

Suddenly the door creaked open, and she turned her head to see the strangest looking person she had ever seen. His raven hair grew messily from the top of his head and in front of his startlingly bright green eyes, emphasising how pale and sickly his skin was. From his forehead grew two horns, curling to the back of his head. He grinned slightly, showing a row of slightly pointed teeth. Otherwise, his clothes were quite normal; a long black shirt over dark jeans.

A silver lock hung from a chain that was fastened around his neck, swaying hypnotically. Kaya's breath caught. He was the one that had saved her.

"So she has finally risen," the boy said, a slight Spanish accent in his voice. "I am Pepito, the-"

"What happened?" Kaya asked bluntly, straightening. "Those things should have killed me."

His eye twitched slightly, irritated. "Do you know who I am?"

"You just said that you were Pepito. I don't really care to know any more than that. I want to know why I'm not dead. Then I want to know where I am, and why. _Then_ you can introduce yourself properly, but by then I am hoping to be out of this place and far away. So don't bother."

He huffed a sigh and shut the door behind him. "You are very irksome for one in your position," he said. "You will find out all you have asked, eventually. First I must know a few things."

"What kind of things?" Kaya asked warily.

"I need to know who you are and what you are doing in this town."

"I don't know the answer to either of those questions," she snapped. "You can call me Kaya, but it's a name I chose after the barrier appeared. I don't remember a thing about myself or my life up until a week ago," she answered quickly. "If you don't know why I'm here, and _not_ in an afterlife or limbo or just plain dead, then I am going to go find someone who does." Kaya approached the door, expecting Pepito to move. He stayed where he was, though, unflinching at her sharp tone.

He blinked slowly. "Sit down. We are not finished here."

"Yes, we are! Answer me, or I'm out of here!"

Suddenly Pepito's skeletal hand was engulfed in bright green flames, and he shoved it between them. His face was still blank. "I could shove this down your throat and incinerate you from the inside out, and then you truly _will_ be dead. That I'm not is a very kind gesture. So I suggest you go sit down, before I am sweeping your ashes from this room."

Terror raced through her veins, but Kaya didn't move. Her face was carved from stone. "Why didn't those things kill me?" She asked, her voice low.

Pepito grinned, his face darkening. He extinguished the flame. "The reason the creatures _couldn't_ kill you was because you were already dead."

The world melted around her, and she felt cold inside. "Already dead...?"

"Your heart was not beating, and it is silent at this moment. Your blood lingers, unmoving, in your veins. Your wounds healed themselves, your flesh does not tempt the creatures' hunger, and I can sense no life force within you." He spoke loudly, wiping away everything Kaya had ever heard; had ever believed. "You were dead long before _any _of this happened."

"How?" She breathed, staggering backwards and falling onto the bed. She tried to feel a pulse in her, to hear her heartbeat, but there was only silence. Pepito didn't move; he seemed to be enjoying her pain.

"Just pretend you're dreaming," He said mockingly. "Pretend that you will wake up and it will all go away."

Kaya shook her head slowly. "Dreams aren't this painful," she whispered, trying to catch her breath.

"Smart girl. Now, would you like to know where you are?" She nodded. "This is the Base, the main power in this city. I am the ruler of this sanctuary, and for good reason." He clicked his fingers and a useless lamp on the table next to the girl burst into flames, casting long shadows on her face. "_Now_ do you want to know who I am?"

Kaya stood up again, gathering what was left of her mind. "I'm not sure I _want_ to know."

The boy chuckled and sauntered over to her. "You will undoubtedly know my father," he said, extinguishing the flaming lamp. "Soon I will begin the Ascension and gather my Soulless Army of Darkness to claim this planet, eternally damning all who oppose me. Can you guess?"

"All I can think of is-" She cut herself off and bolted for the door, pushing Pepito onto the hard floor. She had managed to open it halfway before it was forced closed with a burst of green flame. She jumped away from the heat and found herself staring into the livid face of her 'saviour'.

"I will give you one final chance. I am not a very patient person, _Kaya,_ so I do hope you will not waste it on another futile escape attempt. I ask you again: _Sit down,_" Pepito hissed, his voice low and smooth.

Kaya obeyed this time, but she would not relent to this boy. She would make him wish he had never found her.

The girl began to smile as she sat on the chair at the end of the bed.

-X-

The plastic figure stood up happily at the sound of his prisoner's voice. Tormenting them never got old.

"Meat! You brought us here, and we have the right to know why! Tell us what kind of reward was promised to you. Why you even bother with keeping us here. Does the Master even know that you took us back? Will you get fried if you tell it? Answer me, Meat!"

"Be silent, you pus-filled wretch!" He shouted.

D-boy fell silent, as the burger boy ordered. Meat smiled sweetly; or, as sweet as an ugly plastic figure with razor-sharp teeth could be.

Meat nodded once. "That's better. Now, I will let you in on a little secret. I _was_ planning on giving you back to the Master when I had extracted the information I needed, but now I think I'll keep you. The both of you have become my very best friends, now, and I don't think I could stand it alone," he said mockingly, ignoring their protests. "It is very entertaining to watch you _squirm!_" The last word came out as a hiss.

Eff and D-boy were burning at the stake again, their cries and Meat's laughs echoing off the hard walls.

-X-

_I cannot stand them and their constant whining... Why did I let that idiot voice resurrect them? All I need is the boy to do his job. The others are irrelevant._

_Soon... Soon I will escape this void and rise again. The Other was an exceptional servant, but he was also a free thinker. His mind was not easily molded... I was too proud to deal with him myself; I felt I had to work through others to be able to treat my power like royalty. His emotions got in the way. That was my ultimate demise... But not again._

_I must take more care of this one; I cannot let it happen again... He will not fall like the last one did. The girl will help him... She will keep him whole. Sane. Unlike the Other. He had nothing._

_But will it be enough?_

_He has to become a murderer. It must happen soon... The barrier will not last; I am weakening. He must do his job... He must feed me power. The hunger, the pain, the... blood._

_Blood. I need it... I need blood! Blood!_

_**FEED ME!**_

-X-

"NO!" The room fell silent at the sound of Todd's voice. He looked around as if remembering where he was, then stalked out of the room, passing a confused-looking Tess in the hall.

Todd sat on one of the beds with a sigh. The voice was getting more and more impatient with him as he continued to refuse to do its 'job'. Murder. From what he had gathered, the voice needed to be fed blood. But... Even if he _did_ kill people, how would he feed it, and where? For the voice to need something like that...

_It would need a physical form._ The answer was so obvious now that Todd kicked himself for not realising it earlier. _The voice must be something, somewhere, speaking to me through... its mind? It needs blood to regain power... But how did it lose power in the first place? What __is__ the voice, anyway?..._

_Is there a way to destroy it?_

There was a crash and screams coming from the front door. Something jolted inside him, and Todd rushed towards Johnny's discarded backpack. From its depths the boy drew two knives, the blades as long as his forearm. On the hilts were two metallic smiley faces, grinning at him wickedly.

The screams of shock became screams of terror, and more voices joined the chorus. Human voices... Whatever was going on in the other room, it wasn't the creatures that were chasing him before. The ones that killed Kaya.

_Maybe the voice, the urges..._ Then it dawned on him, an plan that could save all their lives, and had the potential to destroy his defenses against the voice. To destroy him.

But he knew he couldn't hold out against this thing for much longer, so Todd intended to give the voice what it wanted. He would kill, but he would not become a murderer.

_Maybe I can control it._

The screams got louder.


	11. Kill Or Be Killed

_The plot thickens, indeed. Thankyou all for your kind reviews. Though you have said otherwise, I will continue to growl at my writing, because I can say that it isn't as good as I'd like it to be._

_I am honestly not satisfied with the beginning of this chapter - it was prety good in my mind, but I'm not the best at conveying my thoughts into writing. But it'll do for now. And I am sorry for the horribly long chapter._

**Chapter 11: Kill Or Be Killed**

There were more than he could count in the room. Intruders, all of them seeming to have a specific job to do. None of those jobs were friendly towards the occupants of this apartment. Walls were being smashed, ropes were being thrown, some defending, others attacking.

It was chaos.

Devi and Scott were trying to fight them off, and Tess was already gagged and slung heavily over a man's shoulder. Johnny pushed past Todd, who was standing, dumbstruck, in the hall, and ran into the room the boy had been in not ten seconds ago.

Tenna cried out in pain as she was thrown against a wall. She scrambled up and was about to run, but one of them tackled her to the ground. Another raced over to her, going to help his comrade, but Todd's knife reached him first.

He fell to the ground without a sound as the blade was lodged in his skull. Todd raced over to collect it, slicing through another's chest on the way.

_'__**Yes, boy! That's the way! Smell their fear, Squee, revel in their pain...**__'_ The voice was joyous, laughing between sentences.

"WHERE THE FUCK ARE MY KNIVES!?" The shout was coming from the bedroom, where Johnny had undoubtedly noticed the absence of his weapons. He yelled again and reentered the room to see a sight he had never wanted to see.

Two intruders were on the floor, blood pooling slowly around large gashes. Another followed quickly, one of _his_ knives being torn out of the man's flesh by the one person Johnny had hoped would stay innocent throughout life.

Todd swung the blade skilfully, feeling it sever muscle and bone. Though he tried to resent what he was being forced to do by circumstance, Todd couldn't help but feel the fire in his veins; the thrill of the kill jolting him from head to toe.

So instead of fighting it, Todd let the adrenaline and the voice control him. His grip tightened on his weapon and stabbed an intruder in the gut, then followed through in an arc, wounding the next one in the arm. But, rather than the expected cry of pain, a woman's scream erupted from his victim's lips. A flash of purple hair; then a heavy boot was flying towards his face.

Johnny was still standing in the hall, shocked at what he had seen; if the backdrop were different, this must have looked much like when he and Devi... Johnny felt like he was watching his own life in fast-forward in the boy before him.

It wasn't a comforting thought. "No..." he pleaded futilely with whatever was controlling Squee. "Anyone but him..."

He shook off the disconnected feeling and raced through the mass of limbs and bodies. Grabbing Devi's arm, he practically dragged her towards the door. Scott was the next in reach, but Johnny grimaced and got Tess to follow him instead.

Todd was lost to him now; it was already too late. The monster already had too firm a grasp on the boy's mind... There was no saving him now. There was no point in going back for him.

Maybe it was for the best if he were killed by these intruders.

Johnny cursed the creature that had abandoned him when he died, and latched onto Todd's innocent mind. It would force him to paint his home with blood... And then what? What was the creature's plan?

_It doesn't matter,_ he told himself. What mattered was that one of the few _humans _he had met was now gone. So Johnny fled the apartment with the two he had left.

Todd's blade skittered across the floor as he landed on a discarded and disgruntled Tenna, bound and gagged so she couldn't move or make a sound. He was soon overcome by the remaining intruders.

_'__**Play dead.**__'_

Squee did as he was told, and pretended to fall unconscious. He didn't move at all when he was heaved into the air, or when he was roughly being carried outside.

-X-

"And? What are the results of your expedition?"

"We found another rebel camp, sir! We managed to capture two of them, but the remaining four escaped. We lost four men to the boy," a large, dark-skinned guard informed obediently. "He is in custody, and being transported to the storage chambers at this moment."

"Not our best raid," Pepito commented sourly. "Keep them as prisoners. Maybe the others will come back for them. You're sure they were rebels?"

"Yes, sir. They refused our invitation and reacted offensively when we stated out cause," he lied smoothly. Pepito nodded, but his attention was caught when a procession of seven men entered the room, carrying two limp forms.

Pepito was about to inspect the prisoners, but one of them twisted suddenly and punched his captor in the throat. He landed on his feet and lunged for the pair of knives another guard was holding.

He never got that far, for five of the guards were already upon him. The writhing mass of bodies soon dissipated, leaving the truly unconscious form of the prisoner on the hospital floor. One of the guards was holding his pained throat, blood trickling out of his mouth.

Pepito stepped back as the prisoner was hauled into the air once more. His head lolled back to reveal a scarily familiar face; gaunt features, black hair, and covered in blood and gore.

It had to be Todd Casil.

"Kaya!' He barked. She emerged from a shadowy corner, her eyes red and swollen like she had been crying. Pepito had ordered that she always stay within his sights or she will be thrown into the hordes of Shadows roaming the city.

"What is it now?" She croaked, her voice breaking. She remembered promising herself that Pepito would not have any lasting effect on her, but she was wrong. He was the son of Satan, and he could make people crumble with the flick of a finger. Though she was immune to his satanic flames, Kaya was nothing special concerning mental defenses.

Whatever information she had refused to divulge was forcefully sucked from her mind. His eyes... They were hypnotic. Literally. Green fire was constantly swirling within them, and whenever one met his gaze they couldn't blink. If a question was asked, they answered. There was no resistance.

"We are going to visit the prisoners. Come."

"But I-" Her protest died in her throat as she saw the face of the prisoner they were following. "Squee?" She breathed. Before she realised what she was doing, Kaya ran to him. The dark guard held her back easily, but she fought against his solid body with what little force her body could muster. "Squee, please be okay! Squee! Come on, wake up! Wake up! Please!" Her voice was desperate and pleading.

"Let her through," Pepito ordered, a little uncertain. How did the corpse know his friend?

He never expected what he heard next from the man. "No."

"Excuse me?" Pepito asked venomously.

"You heard me." After a second's thought, he grinned. "You see, some of the citizens and I are a little uncomfortable with being ordered around like slaves by a kid."

Pepito saw where this was going, and fury bubbled in his veins. The lights went out and wind began to blow in the room. "I know you've been planning this for a while now, but I had hoped you would come up with something more original. Anyway, without me, this Base would not have any power. There would be no order, and we would certainly be overrun by the Shadows," he hissed. "My barrier is all that keeps them at bay."

"Not true. My men are perfectly capable of protecting the Base and enforcing law. We have no need for magic."

"Are you sure? The supernatural is all-" A fist came out of nowhere, cutting him off. The Antichrist was knocked to the floor and, before he had a chance to set his attackers on fire, he was held down by many more guards. Kaya bolted towards him as the dark man approached, picking up Todd's discarded knife.

She skidded to a stop in front of Pepito, then broke his nose with her foot. She turned to the man and held out a hand. "I am immune to his fire; he can't hurt me. Please," she asked, her voice seething with hatred.

"Traitorous witch!" Pepito growled, struggling against the guards once more, blood oozing down his face.

"Oh, this is sweet," he said, grinning. "How fitting that your death shall be delivered by your personal slave." The man handed Kaya the knife, already covered in gore.

The blade was heavy in her hands as she motioned for the boy to get up. The others let him go, and he stood slowly, glaring daggers at Kaya. She refused to meet his eyes, knowing what effect they could have. For all she knew, Pepito could make her kill herself.

"We're going to visit the prisoners. Come," she said, mimicking what he said before. She poked him in the back painfully hard with Squee's knife whenever he slowed as they approached the storage chambers in the hospital. Only three guards followed the pair.

Kaya waved them away as she found the right one. A little confused, they obeyed. Apparently, this girl now suddenly has a place high in the ranks, or their master would not have given her control of the Antichrist.

When they had left, she motioned for him to enter the storage room. He did so, and before he could meet her eyes, she cut him. A large gash appeared deep in his left leg, and he fell with a groan. Kaya then turned on her heel and slammed the door.

The room was lit dimly by a hanging globe, powered by Pepito, and the walls and floor alike were a grey, dull steel. Empty cardboard boxes lined the walls, cluttering the already too small room. A dark figure was lying limply between a pair, splatters of black blood on the floor around it.

"That was for treating me like a dog," the girl whispered hatefully through the window. "I'll be back." Then she left him, bleeding, with his unconscious cellmate: Todd.

That was when he really began to wonder where Kaya's loyalties lie.

-X-

"I'll be returning when he's recovered from the pain," Kaya reported to Vincent, the new ruler of the Base. She held up the blade, fresh blood covering the old. "Permission to kill him _slowly_, sir?"

"Granted," he hissed. Then he waved her off, going to deal with another issue that has risen amongst the citizens.

Kaya chuckled, and settled herself in a chair. She waited, knife in hand. She had no wish to relinquish it to Vincent... She had another use for it in mid.

Fortunately for her, Kaya was exceptional at masking her emotions. If she wasn't, she would be killed in an instant. Because, along with hate for Pepito and joy for Squee being alive, she was also guilty that she had to make the Antichrist think she was on _their_ side.

Because she would never join them. Not as long as Todd was their prisoner.

Kaya planned to change that.

-X-

She slid the window to his cell open. "I'm ba-ack," she sang. Then the door slid open and Kaya slipped inside, gesturing the all-clear to the guards outside the cell. "Are you happy to see me?"

"I can't say that I am, actually," Pepito growled, hearing the guard's receding footsteps. Kaya listened closely until they were completely out of earshot.

Then she dropped the knife and almost fell over Pepito to get to Todd, who was still unconscious. It clattered to the floor, and Pepito just sat there, clutching his wounded leg.

"I thought so," he said, a slight smile on his lips.

Kaya sighed heavily and put her head in her hands. "I don't think I can keep this up much longer," she whispered shakily. Then she turned to him, her eyes awash with unshed tears. "I know I broke your nose, but they would have killed you."

Pepito understood, but he was still a little confused as to why. "You seemed very serious about killing me when you took the knife," he said accusingly.

"Oh, I did want to, truly. But if I did..." she trailed off, looking at Todd again. _I would never see Squee again._

"You love him." It wasn't a question.

Kaya met his hypnotic gaze squarely. But when she shook her head, it was because she chose to tell him. To make him understand. "No. It's different..." She paused, thinking. "Just imagine... Forget everything you know, everyone you do or have ever cared about. You are left in the pitch black, confused and... disoriented. Nothing is familiar, everything is terrifying. Then... what would happen if a spark of light appeared? Just a spark... Your only warmth in the cold, your only light in the dark... The only thing you have in this new world." Another pause. Her voice was a broken whisper when she spoke again. "You would hold onto it with your life."

Pepito was speechless. Kaya's tears were flowing freely now, and she collapsed into a sobbing heap over her 'spark'.

He didn't want to admit it, but Pepito felt sorry for the girl. Though she wanted to kill him with every fiber of her being, and vice versa, he didn't think it was extremely fair. In his opinion, one should always get the chance to fuck their own life up knowingly; but, as television cooking shows so often state, this one was prepared earlier. And she had no choice in the matter. She was forced to endure a pain the Antichrist had never known, and it wasn't even her fault.

He still wanted her as far away from him as humanly and inhumanly possible because she was an irritating, obsessive, obtuse little bitch, of course. But the fact remains that she had no choice, and something like that really got on Pepito's nerves. He would have to take it up with his father when he got the chance - this barrier was somehow strong enough to deter the devil himself.

A chuckle pierced the depressing silence, and through the window Vincent's face appeared. "The three of you will be executed _officially_ tomorrow. Don't worry, it'll be fun. Have a nice sleep now," he said. Then the window was shut and the door was locked from the outside. The walls seemed to close in on the trio, and Kaya found it hard to breathe.

But she seemed not to have heard over her tears. Pepito paled slightly. "Kaya, snap out of it, please. This isn't the best time to get irreversably depressed."

Her sobbing ceased and she looked up at him. "Why? We're all dead tomorrow, and I'm sure they'll figure out a way to kill a corpse like me. Burn me, maybe."

Pepito shook his head. "We're escaping. Tonight."

"B-but your leg - and Squee..."

"Trust me."

And in that moment, the girl did. In that moment, she put her 'life' in the hands of her enemy.


	12. Let The Games Begin

_Now that I think about it, those things __are__ a bit like I Am Legend. But I only really realised it after I finished the beginning of the chapter, so you'll just have to live with it. But, as I have said before, my guys are better because they have a strange mix of Ebola and Rabies. And their eyes bleed._

_And I know I could have come up with a more original name than 'Shadows', but it was two am and I'm too lazy to change it now. Plus, that's what they were originally going to be like. But I like zombies more._

**Chapter 12: Let The Games Begin**

"What now?" Tess's voice rang through the deadly silent air. The streets were empty - on the surface - but inside the shops, waiting patiently in the darkness for the light to disappear, the Shadows were eager for another meal. For more victims.

"What now, indeed," Johnny replied, searching the buildings for an answer. They had escaped, but to what? Another situation of almost-certain death. And this time, he had no weapons. His hands felt empty, itching for some sort of defense against whatever was lurking in the shadows.

"We have to find a safe place before the sun goes down," Devi said assertively. "The second it does and we are still outside, we're dead for sure."

Scott, who had somehow escaped with the three, much to _all_ of their disappointment, was on the brink of hyperventilation. His eyes darted from one shadow to the next, just waiting for something to jump out and eat them. It would be a childish type of paranoia if it weren't completely possible at the time.

Three of them just stood there, huddled in the center of the desolate road, thinking grim thoughts. Johnny, on the other hand, had a plan forming in his mind. It wasn't one he was very comfortable with - but survival was probably worth it. Since he became free of the creature, life had gained a shred of meaning.

He shuddered as the suggestion passed his lips. "I think I might know a safe place. Those _things_ might not have been able to get in - for reasons I'm not entirely sure. But it's a possibility. I'll understand if you refuse, Devi and Tess, but I sincerely hope you will reconsider."

Devi's eyes narrowed as she understood. "Give me one good reason why I should trust you."

"Because if you don't, we're _all_ going to die. And this time, I'm not the one holding the knives."

"That's a pretty good reason," Tess agreed nervously. The worst experience of her life had been spent in that basement, but it was their only option at the moment.

Scott held up his hands, the only one not understanding the depth situation. "Okay, hold up. One: What are you talking about? And two: If it's safe, I'm there, and that bitch isn't going to keep me out."

Devi growled, ignoring the man. She looked like she was going to explode. "Fine! Fine. But we have to hurry."

Johnny nodded and motioned for them to follow, then began to sprint along the streets. The others followed quickly, noting the strip of light in the middle of the street shrinking slowly. There was a moan coming from beside them, and they could hear the Shadows following them as they progressed slowly towards Johnny's house.

-X-

_"You love him." ... "No... Forget everything... Pitch black, confused, disoriented... Just a spark... hold onto it with your life." ... "... Executed officially... Have a nice sleep."_

The words were disorganised and made no sense, but Todd was just glad that he could hear again.

Then sobbing filled his ears, quiet and painful. He tried to move, to open his eyes, but his body was still unresponsive.

_"Trust me."_

Then someone winced in pain, and there was a light pressure on each of his temples. Coolness infused his body, sweeping away the numb and leaving nothing but a prickling pain. He moved his fingertips and, within seconds, Todd was fully conscious again.

He promptly rolled over and threw up. Coughing and heaving, he managed to open his eyes. He grimaced and turned away from the splatter of half-digested food and stomach acids as the nausea passed.

His eyes adjusted to the dark in the room quickly, and he almost fell backwards into the puddle of vomit he had produced as he saw the who he was with.

In front of him was someone he hadn't seen in years. Pepito's appearance had somehow become even more unnerving since the last time he saw him. And, sitting not far behind him, was Kaya. She was looking worse than when he had met her, her hair half-out and, if it were possible, she looked paler and thinner; sickeningly so. And it was obvious in her haunted eyes that she had been crying recently.

He met her eyes and, in that instant, he knew he wasn't hallucinating. She was really there. "K-Kaya?" He asked uncertainly. "What happened... How are you alive? The thing cut you... and you couldn't run..." His head was spinning.

"I'm _not _alive, Squee." She said bitterly.

"W-what do you mean!?"

"What she means is that she died a _long_ time ago, before the barrier appeared. We're talking years, but I am unaware as to how many exactly. Somehow, your little friend is the equivalent of a walking corpse," Pepito said harshly. He was sick of Kaya and her idiotic obsession with Todd.

Todd sighed heavily. "I guess I should be used to surprises by now..."

"Trust me, I was surprised, too," Kaya said. "It's pretty easy to assume you're alive when you're walking around and all."

Pepito cleared his throat. "If we're done here?" The two looked over to him as he stood up painfully.

"What happened to your leg?" Todd asked warily.

"Ask _her,_" he said, glaring at Kaya. Todd gave her a questioning glance.

She bit her lip and pointed to the discarded knife in front of the door. "I cut him. And I'm not sorry, either. He deserved it."

"How, may I ask, did I deserve _this?_"

"I told you; you treated me like a dog. Not very nice when the table of power turns, is it, Pepito?" She asked mockingly.

"Oh, please. I could still kill you, and easily too, but that would not be very productive. I need you both if we are to get out of here."

Todd was still confused. "Where exactly _is_ here?"

Kaya helped him stand up, and then retrieved the blade. "We're in a storage room in the hospital, and we're going to be executed tomorrow." She walked back over to Todd and pressed the hilt into his palm, but he tried to push it away. She shook her head and forced his hand closed. "You have to, Squee."

"Things really happen fast this week," Todd muttered to himself as he slipped it into his belt. Then he turned to Pepito, trying not to shudder. "So, what's the plan?"

"Escape. Before tomorrow."

"I was under the impression that you actually _had_ a plan," Kaya growled.

"Todd took down four of my finest soldiers in less than a minute. You are an excellent liar, and you are immune to the fire I can produce," he said.

"And how will _that_ help?" She asked angrily.

"First we wait for-"

He was cut off by the door crashing open. Almost twenty guards were standing there, and Vincent's face appeared among the crowd. He grinned, flashing brilliant white teeth, and motioned with his hand. The guards sprinted in and, before the three could react, their hands were being secured behind their backs and they were surrounded.

"What is the meaning of this?" Pepito demanded, but a hand was then slapped over his mouth firmly. He bit it hard enough to draw blood, and the guard recoiled, but another quickly took his place. Kaya was also struggling futilely, but Todd was still. A small grin appeared on his face, and he acted cooperatively with his captors. His demeanor was calm, almost malevolently docile. This unnerved the guards somewhat, but they stood firm.

Vincent's grin widened, if it were possible. "We have decided to make this a public thing, and the citizens demanded blood. I intend to give it to them, sooner rather than later. Anyway, your friend is awake now, and a conscious victim is always fun. The other prisoners are being rounded up - We have decided to make it a game, you see. The last prisoner standing wins. The rules will be explained on your arrival."

They had to get out of there, but right now, it seemed impossible. Guards were on every side as they were marched down the hall, other prisoners being dragged along as if they had been either held there a _really _long time, or tortured horribly for one reason or another. The latter was more probable.

Kya felt sick at how cruel Pepito could be.

-X-

Johnny skidded to a stop as another shadowed street blocked their path. He cursed and backtracked once more. The streets were endless, and the Shadows were creeping in. Their moans and screeches were getting closer and closer with every step.

But they were almost there, and Johnny was determined to get home.

One of the creatures screamed, and a clawed hand swiped at them from the darkness. Tess inhaled sharply and jumped away. "Nny... Nny, I don't think we're going to make it," she shouted, but kept up with the group regardless.

"We'll make it," he said, determined. He was far ahead of the other three, scouting for more clear streets.

The bright light of sunset was ebbing, allowing more room for the Shadows to maneuver.

-X-

They never got to see the awaiting crowds. Instead, Kaya, Todd and Pepito were separated and deposited into a room each. Their personal guard stayed only long enough to explain the rules of the game: Kill the others before they kill you. The last prisoner standing wins.

The 'contestants' each got a weapon, chosen for them by their guard. Kaya got a hardwood baseball bat, and Todd had a pair of elongated hooks. Pepito wasn't offered a thing, but he had his powers... And Tenna, being one of the prisoners, ended up with a flamethrower, of all things. She giggled, despite the situation, as she was handed the weapon.

Todd's guard stepped back and was about to open the door for the Games to begin, but Todd got to him before he could touch the handle.

He lodged one hook into the guard's shoulder blade, and the other one into his windpipe. Todd jerked them back and snapped the guard's neck. He then proceeded to open the door himself. He couldn't help but grin as he saw how useful these dull-looking weapons were.

The hall was dark and deadly silent, but Todd was unfazed. _'__**This is your time to shine, Squee,**__'_ the voice chimed in his head. _'__**Prove to me that you are worthy of completing the task I have set.**__'_

_I've already done too much against my will. I have nothing to prove._ Todd continued to defy the voice, even in this time of need. But it was becoming a burden more than any other he has carried.

The voice laughed. _'__**I did not make you kill that guard,**__'_ it said. _'__**I suggested it but, in the end, it was you.**__'_

Todd ignored the voice. It was filling his head with lies to make him obey... Instead, he hugged the walls as he ghosted down the hall. The sound of bare feet slapping the hard ground reached his ears, and the boy shrank into the wall, waiting silently like a skilled predator.

Before they could run past, Todd dug the hook into their torso and dragged them to face him, leaving a trail of blood on the floor. The man whimpered and pleaded, saying that he would do anything, but Todd ignored the noise and jerked the hook back out.

He stood slowly and left the man to die, sprinting through the abandoned part of the hospital. He was looking for a way out of this place.

-X-

"SHIT!"

The terrified curse echoed through the halls, reaching Kaya's ears. She turned towards the sound, bat held ready, to see a woman running desperately from someone she couldn't see. Then the clicking joined in the echo.

Kaya dropped her weapon as she turned frantically to run.

The woman turned slightly and shot a jet of flame into the hall, illuminating grey flesh and razor claws and milky eyes covered in their own blood.

They had let the Shadows loose in the Games.

It truly was survival of the fittest now.

-X-

_[A/N]: I just had to add the Games. They were an on-the-spot idea, and I couldn't resist writing about creepy zombie-uglies killing people in a dark, abandoned part of a hospital._


	13. Bloodlust

_I've lost all feeling in three of my fingers - not very pleasant, I can tell you now. But I have endured the agony to give my faithful reviewers another chapter of this horrific story. Oh, the pain._

_Reviews make the chapters come faster :)_

**Chapter 13: Bloodlust**

_'__**Squee.**__'_

_No!_

_'__**You know you want to. She hurt you.**__'_

His boot was planted firmly on the woman's face, blood splatters on the metal, crushing it into the ground. Somehow, this was the same woman that had tried to eat him days ago. And the voice would not relent. It wasn't going to let this one get away.

Todd's hooks were cutting into her arms, and she was crying and pleading with him. He didn't know how he got into this situation, but he did know that he wanted it to stop. He wanted it all to go away. He wanted Shmee back.

_'__**Finish her, Squee.**__'_

An irritating buzzing noise sounded in the back of his head, fragments of lost and forgotten conversations flashing in his mind like an old black and white television screen. The static was too much, the white noise taking over his hearing.

_'__**She deserves it...**__'_

The woman sobbed and pleaded constantly. The noise was too much. It was all too much.

"NO! SHUT UP! JUST SHUT UP!" He ripped the hooks apart, tearing her arms off. Gore sprayed his already bloody clothes. The woman shrieked as he lifted her up like a dead pig on the hook. "Why must you make so much _noise_?" He asked, furious and frantic, as he shoved the other one into her mouth. He then threw her over his head and at the wall in one swift movement. He had learned not to question where this newfound skill and strength came from.

Her screams died down to incoherent whimpers, and Todd gripped the hooks tighter. _'__**You know what I want, Squee,**__'_ the voice said.

Todd clapped his hands over his ears, but the noise only got louder. "GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY HEAD!" He threw a hook at the woman and she fell silent. It _all_ fell silent.

The air felt empty. Dead. the only thing Todd could hear was his own heavy breathing and his heart thudding in his ears. His eyes darted around, looking for something; he wasn't sure what, but it was there. There was something...

Then he noticed that he wasn't the only one breathing heavily. He retrieved his other weapon and stood back, searching. There, on the other side of the hall, was a wooden door. He stalked over to it, quieter than he should have been considering his attire, and pressed an ear against the door.

The breathing on the other side sounded more like a low growl, and Todd could imagine what was on the other side. _Shit. Those are some sick people, and __you__ are a sick voice. Why would you even make these things if you can't control them!?_

The voice didn't answer.

Carefully, so as not to alert the creature, he crept around the corner, his hooks leaving twin trails of blood on the floor. He heard a distant shriek and jumped, then shrank into the wall, not sure if it were human or not.

The thing in the other room heard this, and Todd could hear the door splintering. He sprinted down the hall, but saw up the other end another seemed to be stalking a victim. He turned a corner just as the other Shadow caught up.

He ran past door after door, each one seeming to have a creature lurking behind. More and more joined the chase, their hunger clear in their screeches. Some of them seemed more human-like than the others; their faces less distorted and their skin still bloody, their features and limbs mostly intact. These must be the prisoners that had been infected by the things.

Human hands tipped with short claws grabbed at him from each corner, and they lurched towards him in pain as the changes took place in their bodies. Blood slicked the floor, making it hard to run on. Todd fell into the stuff many times.

_'__**Kill them, Squee! Bathe in their blood! Feed off their pain!**__' _But all he could do was keep hold of his weapons as he ran.

He felt like he was the only living person left in this hospital. Moans and shrieks rang in his ears, as did the static in the back of his head. It was a constant noise, overpowering, unrelenting. He turned a corner, but overshot and slipped in more blood. He tried to scramble up, not allowing any of the stuff into his eyes or mouth.

An ex-prisoner, recognisable as a child with startlingly red hair, bubbled a moan as she reached to him, blood rushing from her nose and mouth. Her claws dug into Todd's flesh as she dragged herself closer.

Todd kicked her away, but another got him from behind. The Shadow creatures could be heard approaching, fast. Todd tried to swing the hooks at them, but it was impossible to lift them under the weight of his own fear.

There was an incomprehensible shout and green fire encompassed him, burning the creatures around him. They shrieked in pain as they fell, their flesh bubbling in the heat.

Todd ran. He followed a tight path through the flames until he reached its source: Pepito. He was leaning against the wall, blood running down his leg, one arm outstretched as he shot burst of flame from the palm.

"Come, _amigo,_ the exit is not far," he said. Todd didn't question it; they turned and were about to flee the creatures, when more shrieks came from the opposite hall.

"Can you make it?" Todd asked, noting Pepito's wounded leg. He nodded, but he looked uncertain. They were going to make a break for it, hoping to outrun the Shadows on their way to the exit. And if Pepito was lying, they were both dead.

Shrieks bounced off the walls, both human and Shadow. That made Todd hesitate; no one _normal_ could have survived this. So he waited, hooks ready to dig into a creature's skull.

-X-

Kaya could hear the Shadows behind her, their claws clicking on the floor as they ran, desperate to dig into her flesh. Tenna was beside her, the flamethrower discarded. As of a few seconds ago, it had stopped working.

The girl ducked around the corner swiftly, and it was a good thing, too. The end of a hook was suddenly buried in the wall, right where her head would have been had she been standing upright.

She saw a flash of gleaming metal and lunged for it, taking the knife from her attacker's belt. She rolled to the side and stood, facing them, the knife held strongly between them.

Then she saw who it was she was about to attack. Squee was covered in blood; more than usual. He had two well-used hooks for weapons, and one had a chunk of rotting flesh skewered to it. His wide brown eyes seemed to have sunk into his skull in the short time they had been in these 'Games'.

The shock registered on Todd's face as he saw who he had nearly killed; and, as a side thought, he had forgotten completely about the twelve-inch blade that had resided in his belt the whole time, being too preoccupied with the usefulness of the hooks. He was about to lower said weapons when the Shadow's screams reached their ears. He turned quickly to see Tenna jump from the corner and continue around the next. "HURRY UP!" She shouted, and the others didn't hesitate.

"You're sure the exit's this way?" Todd asked, panting.

"Mostly," Pepito replied uncertainly. "I sense life there."

"MOSTLY!?" Kaya screeched. She turned slightly to see the Shadows gaining on them, shuddered, and looked straight ahead again. Her eyes widened at what she saw.

A double door, barred off with wood. Too much for them to break through. She glanced at Pepito, and he nodded, shooting a burst of flame at the door. It exploded, and the four of them burst out the other side, into the main part of the hospital.

The guards on duty scrambled back, but Todd swiped the hooks over their stomachs, their innards spilling out, their blood spraying the walls.

"It'll keep them occupied," he shouted to the others, but this time his reasoning wasn't solid. This time Todd felt the glee rush throughout his body with abandon, his blood on fire. He could _feel_ the voice's approval, but that didn't faze him.

They were merely four bodies with one mind, every action complimenting the next. Bodies fell, things exploded, the four of them moved swiftly and efficiently from one place to the next, followed closely by their former competitors.

They continued running through occupied rooms and halls until they reached the foyer, Pepito's leg slowing them down some. It allowed the Shadows to gain on them. They burst into the crowded room, and panic erupted. They managed to push through the crowd, blocked off by a wall of flesh, before the Shadows entered.

It exploded then, the citizens rioting and screaming in terror as the Shadows rampaged in their midst. People were killed, people were infected, and Todd was smiling as he joined in spilling their blood. These were the people that had itched to see him killed by the very things that were tearing at their flesh, and a part of him felt his actions were justified. The rest of him was run by adrenaline and impulse; there was no time to think in the fray. They could only act.

Pepito had stopped caring who the victims to his fire were. He was burning everything around them furiously, and particularly enjoyed it when he saw Vincent's agonised face as he was incinerated before his eyes. Then orange flames joined the green ones as the furniture began to catch.

A machine hissed; It didn't sound good. There was a small explosion coming from the office area, and it was certain that there would be a bigger one soon. The others seemed to sense it, because they, too, were looking for an escape route.

Guards were blocking the entrance from the outside, trying to save themselves and leaving the citizens to their gruesome deaths. Kaya's eyes darted from one place to another, searching for a way out.

Her eyes locked on the window, boarded up.

"Pepito!" She shouted, and he followed her gaze to the window. He turned and shot more flames, weaker this time. He was getting exhausted from all the power he was using. The wood turned to ash, but the glass remained unaffected.

She threw the knife. It impaled and cracked the glass, but still it did not break. Todd saw this and took her hand, running straight for it. Tenna practically dragged Pepito across the room, but the two managed to keep the Shadows at bay. When one got too close, she almost threw the Antichrist at it.

The bloodcurdling screams, the Shadow's screeches, the static in his head. Todd squeezed his eyes shut and locked his jaw, and Kaya sped up as they impacted with the window.

Glass flew around them, sprinkling onto the concrete like delicate raindrops, shattering on impact. The tiny, deadly shards glittered in the dying light. Kaya rolled to the side and retrieved the knife, while Todd made sure Pepito and Tenna got through. Neither of them looked like they should be in this situation; They both looked bloodless and unhealthy.

Kaya winced as glass embedded itself into her feet, penetrating the flimsy cotton slippers some idiot nurse had put her in. Blood covered every one of them, they were all exhausted.

But the four continued running until they reached the thinning light. The small strip looked like it would only last minutes. The Shadows could be heard closing in on their small speck of sanctuary. They would have continued running, but Tenna inhaled sharply and stopped dead.

She moaned in pain and fell ot her knees. Sweat beaded on her forehead as she struggled to speak. "G-go," she said. Then she looked up, seeing Todd's confusion. "At least w-we made an impression. We mu-must have looked awesome from their point of v-view." Tenna's breathing was laboured.

An explosion shattered the rest of the hospital windows behind them, rattling the earth.

Todd was about to ask what was wrong when he saw the large gash in her arm, oozing blood and another blackish substance. He staggered back, panic spreading through his veins.

She was infected.


	14. Through The Cracks, I Fall

_May he rest in peace._

_I hope this chapter doesn't disappoint._

**Chapter 14: Through The Cracks, I Fall**

Tenna, or what was left of her, moaned and growled until she fell to the asphalt, writhing in pain as the infection swept through her system. It was wiping away everything she ever was - every trace of what had once been human now washed into oblivion.

Watching the transformation was almost too much to bear. Even the Antichrist was repulsed by the way her face distorted, how the bones seemed to liquefy and reshape themselves in her skull. Kaya almost fell over as she stumbled backwards hastily. Her eyes met Todd's momentarily, then she fixed her gaze back on the woman before her. It took her a moment to register the fact that Todd wasn't moving.

_'__**Kill her, before she can bite back! NOW, SQUEE!**__'_

Todd didn't answer. His eyes were wide with terror and he stepped back slightly as Tenna attempted weakly to drag herself towards them. His knuckles were white as he gripped the base of the hooks painfully hard. He tried to raise them, but his arms were made of lead. There was no fire any more, none of the new excitement he felt at the thought of killing one who deserved it.

"Squee..." Kaya's voice was hesitant and her fear was almost tangible. Shadows were clawing their way out of the inferno that was once a hospital, and more were beginning to line the darkness that was rapidly creeping in.

She didn't deserve it. Tenna didn't deserve to die, and Todd couldn't bring himself to murder her. He couldn't force his limbs, merely dead weights now, to use the weapons he held. He staggered backwards a few steps, only one coherent thought running through his head among the noise of the static and the voice. _I can't do it. I can't do it. I can't do it._ He was breathing heavily, unable to think rationally.

Tenna curled into a ball and was still, and time stopped. No one moved; no one breathed. Forever passed, awaiting the dreaded moment of Tenna's death and rebirth.

-X-

_Horror. Terror. Agony._

"N-" No! No...

_Her chest constricted as something... the infection... oozed through her veins. Her muscles seized and pain exploded inside her as her organs tore themselves apart._

N-no...

_She felt her head smack the road, and was sure that her skull fractured. It didn't matter though; it was already trying to tear through her head. The pain was indescribable. Unbearable._

Please...

_She clawed the road feebly, trying to escape the pain. But moving only made it worse. She gasped and moaned, though no air entered her lungs, trying anything to escape..._

D-don't make me...

_She retched and gagged as a chunk of her own flesh lodged in her throat..._

M-make it st-stop... Please... _Please..._

_She hugged her knees as a fire raged inside her, charring her to the bone... The need was unbearable. She had never eaten in her life. Her stomach churned and twisted, longing for release... Release from the pain... The hunger..._

_The world imploded on itself as she felt her heart stop._

-X-

She twisted violently onto her back, eyes rolling back into her head and blood bubbling to her lips. She arched her neck and back and bared her throat as well as sligltly tapered teeth, covered in her own blood. After a moment's silence, she released a drawn out shriek that chilled them to the bone; there was pain and horror in the note, as well as an undying lust for blood to be spilled. For her hunger to end.

They ran. Stumbling over one another, the three managed to get to the light's edge before Tenna rose to her feet and began shambling after them, blood streaming from her eyes and mouth. She was still screaming. Non-stop. Still screaming...

There was no pause as more changes took place in her body; the changes one went through when transforming from Infected to Shadow. Tenna began to move faster.

-X-

_The small room was dark and dirty, old blood coating the cracked walls. It had come from the bodies that littered the floor, sliced open brutally, but earning them swift deaths. They were the lucky ones. An man, already forgotten to the world, was clutching a severed arm, trying to reattach it to his shoulder. But, though he tried, he knew it was too late. He was bleeding to death. The world spun around him and everything went black._

_At the end of a trail of blood, half-buried in rubble and sitting next to a discarded and shattered knife, was a tiny black and white figure. It's small, round head was protruding from the pile of dirt and the way it was buried made it look like it had been trying to dig itself out. It's small tuft of synthetic hair was matted with dust._

_If inanimate objects had emotions, this one would be sobbing. If they had a heart, this one's would be breaking. If they were alive... This one would be dying._

_And it was._

_Because all it ever had was now gone. All it ever _was_ had been destroyed. And it would soon follow; becoming nothing but the squeaky toy it so looked like._

_It was nothing now. A lost and broken fragment that the world had already forgotten. And it could never be recovered._

_The skeleton-printed toy slowly faded from reality, leaving nothing but an empty shell of what it had once been._

_Lost and forgotten..._

-X-

"Oh no," Devi said flatly as the light was completely shut off.

Johnny's voice was nothing but a whisper. "Run."

The Shadows followed.

-X-

"Where are we going?" Kaya asked frantically, the weight of supporting Pepito becoming too much to run with for much longer.

Todd didn't answer; something ahead had caught his attention. His eyes widened to an impossible size and, ignoring the fast-approaching Shadows, he skidded to a stop, almost slipping on the blood that refused to remove itself from his boots.

"What the-?!" She cut herself off as she saw it too - the approaching troupe of people and, more importantly, another terrifying swarm of the Shadows. Directly in front of them.

They were surrounded, and there was no way out. Todd's eyes searched their surroundings swiftly, but no escape route could be seen. It was all a blur now; the hooks in his hands dropping to the ground, blood splattering across the concrete; his friends screams; the static; the voice. Nothing made sense, and he could feel his consciousness flicker.

"Squee!?" A disembodied voice called his name, but he was too numb to recognise it.

There was an incomprehensible shout and the edges of his vision were bright green. _Pepito..._

Something collided with him at what must have been the speed of a charging rhino, and he fell to the floor. The landing left him winded, wrenching him violently back into the real world. He struggled to breathe, but at least he could see again.

Pepito was beside him on the ground. He was breathing heavily and sweat beaded on his forehead.

"What did you do?" a voice asked.

"They're sedated - for the time being," Pepito gasped. Whatever he did must have taken a lot out of him. "Half - an hour - at most. Out of - power."

Todd stood up shakily and saw that a Shadow had almost disemboweled him. It was now glowing a soft green and breathing slowly. He shuddered and turned to see the livid face of Johnny.

"What?" he asked innocently, retrieving his hooks.

Johnny huffed angrily and was suddenly standing in front of Kaya, though he was still glaring at Todd. She gave him the knife that was in her hand timidly, and backed away. Johnny turned to face the boy fully.

"You can have that," Todd said, eying the blade in Johnny's hand. "I actually like these better..." He trailed off as he saw Johnny's expression change from livid to murderous.

"Do you even know?" he asked, trying to keep his voice level and his temper in check.

"What?" Todd asked, confused.

"DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'VE DONE? WHAT YOU'RE DOING?" The man shrieked. Then he lowered his voice. "Do you have any idea of the depth of the situation you have gotten yourself into!? That voice... You shouldn't do it. You have to fight it, Squee, and you know that! But here I am listening to you talking about which method of murder is your favourite! You..." Now his voice was a whisper. "You were never supposed to become me. This was never supposed to happen..." Johnny stiffened as realisation crossed his eyes. "That's it, isn't it?" A large, deranged grin suddenly split his face.

Todd was terrified now, and everyone else was too shocked and confused to intervene. "W-what's it?" Kaya asked slowly. She was completely ignored.

Johnny laughed. It was a dark, demented sound. "The perfect plan, huh? Perfect..."

"What's going on?" Kaya asked, more firmly.

"It's you, Squee. Isn't it? This is all because of you..." He turned to glare at the boy, his gaze piercing. "It's all your fault. The city is destroyed because of you. It's your fault everyone's dead. Your fault _we're_ going to die." He continued laughing.

_'__**No, it's not,**__'_ the voice hissed. _'__**You've done nothing wrong, Squee. He lies.**__'_

"No! You're the liar, you bloodthirsty lump of cow excrement! You made this happen _through _Squee! If it weren't for him, everything would be normal, and you wouldn't exist! You would have died the day I did. You would have never corrupted Squee's mind, and we would most likely live to see another day! Or, maybe if Squee had the _strength_ to fight you, we wouldn't be in this mess. You hear that? You're _weak_, Squee. We're all going to die because you were too weak to let go of the past! If you had lived a normal life, your pathetic little trauma-filled mind would never have been there to fuel this thing!" Each word bit into Johnny's throat like a thorn, and he knew he would regret saying all this later. But for now he was blinded with rage and hate, and nothing mattered but to make the boy realise that without him, _everything_ would be normal again.

Todd clutched his head in pain, as he seemed to do so often now. The truth of it all was too real.

_'__**Johnny lies, Squee! Don't believe it. I'm on your side - HE is the enemy, Squee. Nny is the enemy. He is the one that blocks our path. He will try to stop our rise to power! He is the enemy!**__'_ Todd shook his head frantically. Something filled him; some kind of negative energy.

_'Squee!'_ Shmee's voice was choked off almost instantly, and a vision of the bear being strangled and constricted by a dark tentacle flashed in front of his eyes. The tentacle was pulsing and changing shape constantly, squeezing the bear like one would a... sponge. A dark substance dripped from the bear, soaking into the floor instantly. It... it was all the pent-up trauma, being squeezed out of Shmee and back into Todd. With every drop, Todd's defences against the voice lessened, and the static in his mind grew stronger.

All this went unnoticed as Todd silently battled the demon inside him. He was falling through the cracks, and he wouldn't be able to hold on much longer.

Pepito's head shot up, and he turned slightly. His eyes focused on one point in the distance, and fear crossed his face. "She's coming," he said lowly.

Todd's mind was no longer his.

"Who... Tenna? Tenna made it?!" Devi asked hopefully, her dark expression brightening minutely. Pepito shook his head slowly, gaze locked on an approaching figure. The woman's expression was wiped away; replaced with one of pure horror as she understood.

Todd's downturned face was hidden in shadow, his dark hair covering his once-innocent chocolate brown eyes. His hooks were held loosely by his sides, and he smiled. "**You just don't get it, do you?**" His voice seemed to have a lower twin echo, regaining everyone's attention. Kaya almost screamed as she heard the voice that had once haunted her so coming from the one person she had been fighting to keep in this world.

Todd began to glow a dark crimson, seeming to suck Pepito's power out of the sedated Shadows and converting it into something sinister. They began to stir, their patterned breathing broken and their fingers twitching slightly. They were waking up.

He met Johnny's gaze squarely, and now _his _face was obscured by a dark, demented grin. His eyes had rolled back into his head and had begun bleeding... He had been taken over completely by the voice, now merely a body for it to occupy.

There was nothing left of Todd now. Todd was gone. What was in his place was a much darker entity.

The boy chuckled.


	15. The Sound Of Silence

_"Look at what you've become, Todd!"_

_"I don't think I'm Todd anymore..." - Quote from __Little Red Letter__ by __Jynx's Box__ (another fanfiction - must read)_

**Chapter 15: The Sound Of Silence**

The possessed Todd turned on his heel, coat floating around his ankles like smoke. There was something sinister about the action.

"**Why shouldn't We exist, Johnny?**" Todd asked, referring to himself and the voice as one."**Why do We deserve to die more than you do? It's a little unfair, if you ask Us. You see, We kill people to stay alive, whereas you... You don't even know why you do it any more. You know it's not what has to be done to fix the world, yet you kill anyway. So why must We be destroyed and you left to walk the foul earth?**"

"It's not the killing I have a problem with," Johnny hissed. "It's what you will do when you actually gain the power you speak of. I know what you are, and I know what you will become if you use Squee like this!"

"**And what am I, Johnny?**"

"Nightmares. Negativity. You are the result of what even the Wastelocks like me couldn't handle!" He wasn't sure how he knew this, but Johnny felt it was the truth. Somewhere in the deep recesses of his mind, he had always known.

Todd's smile widened, if it were possible. "**Clever. And what are you going to do about it?**" His voice lowered to a deadly whisper. "**Are you going to kill Us?**"

"I..." Jihnny hesitated. He wasn't sure if he could, and it showed clearly in his eyes.

Something in Todd flickered; an emotion flashed crossed his face. He closed his eyes slowly, the smile fading.

Johnny was oblivious to these small changes. _Are you going to kill Us?_ "... I have to." His grip tightened on the single knife he held, and he took a step forwards as if in a trance.

Many things happened then, blurring together in Johnny's mind until they were an incomprehensible mess. He didn't have time to think; only to act.

"NO!" Kaya screamed and before she could stop herself, she ran to Todd, who was ready to kill whatever approached him at the moment. Tears threatened to overflow, but she bit them back, focusing on only one thought. _I will get Squee back._

Tenna had reached them. She... _it_ shrieked and jumped on the thickest group of huddled flesh - Tess, Scott and Devi. They scattered, but it was too late. Tenna had already grasped Scott from the bottom jaw, and thrust another clawed hand into his mouth. Then she pulled sharply, completely removing the top of his head from his jaw. Blood poured onto the concrete as he collapsed, dead.

The Shadows began to stand up, their slurred growls chilling the group to the bone.

Todd had disappeared, his hooks still settling on the ground. And Kaya had followed, leaving the rest of them to the ferocious jaws of Tenna and the rest of the Shadows.

They tried to run, but were blocked by more Shadows, still clumsy and tired from Pepito's sedative, but not enough so to stop them trying to hunt. Turning a corner, they found that they were being herded into an empty street.

The Shadows were intelligent.

But they couldn't outsmart Johnny. He quickly barked a few commands to the others, and they backtracked into a small alley. Then they used the narrowness of the walkway between the buildings to climb to the top, supporting each other as they went. Pepito had an extremely hard time, but he managed.

Now on top of the building and out of reach of the Shadows, Pepito collapsed. He could do no more, unable to even move his legs.

"Tess, Devi - you have to follow Squee. Do whatever it takes to stop him from reaching my house." Johnny said it all without emotion, though he was raging inside.

"How do you know that's where he's going?" Devi asked.

"I just do!"

"But-" Tess tried to protest, but Johnny cut her off. He knew she had a small amount of respect for Squee, but that couldn't interfere with what needed to be done.

"_Anything_ it takes. Go. NOW!" He pointed in the general direction of his house. "You can easily avoid the shadows - Pepito will stay here and keep their interest. Won't you, you little cretin?" Pepito groaned.

"And what are you going to be doing while we're risking our lives?" Devi asked, annoyed.

"... I have to check on something."

"Because that makes sense during the zombie apocalypse."

"It's not the apocalypse, it's the Creature. NOW GO!"

They fled the scene, and Johnny left in the opposite direction, leaving Pepito as live bait for the Shadows.

What Johnny didn't realise is that they had already shown the Shadows how to get up. They just had to coordinate enough to make it onto the roof, and Pepito was as good as dead.

-X-

Kaya heard a door slam in the distance, and followed the sound to Todd's old house. There was a crash and a woman's screaming, then a deadly silence hung in the air.

She burst into the door to see Todd standing in front of his mother's bloody corpse, the leg of a smashed chair embedded in her throat. Todd glanced at Kaya, then back at the corpse, then at his own hands as if he had just realised what he had done.

"Squee..."

He shook his head violently and ran upstairs, Kaya following close behind. He entered his room, and so did she.

Then her world fell apart.

She fell to her knees, glancing frantically around the room, completely ignoring Todd's presence.

_She was only five years old. Too young to understand the concept of life and death; too young to realise the dangers of a simple McDonald's toy._

_She choked._

_And died._

_Her angelic smile was wiped from her face forever... or so her family thought. She was buried under six feet of dirt and left to rot. But she remembered. And she haunted the place she died for years after._

_She met someone... A nice boy. She wanted him to stay with her forever. But her mother... Her mother had died, too. And she wasn't allowed to haunt anyone._

_On her way back, something jarred her body; something urged her to awaken._

_So she did._

_She dug her way out of her grave. And lived again. As a servant of the Creature._

_Kyrah Destry._

_Kaya._

She gasped for air, and noticed that Todd was close. Very close. A look of concern was on his face, and one of his hands was on her shoulder, the other resting lightly on top of her knee. He was shaking her.

"Kaya! Kaya, what's wrong? Are you alright?"

_Squee,_ she thought. And she collapsed into him. Hesitantly, he put a comforting arm around her shoulder.

"What happened? You blacked out for a few minutes, I thought you were having a fit." During those minutes, Todd had regained control over his mind. Either the creature had suddenly run out of power, or it wanted to see how this would play out.

She felt like she wasn't there; like it wasn't her that was in the room. She pulled away from him, and stared at her hands. It was a strange thing to experience one's death _again._ "... Do you believe in ghosts?" she asked quietly.

Todd wasn't sure where the question came from, but he tried to answer it anyway. "I guess so. I mean, I do, actually. I've seen one... Talked to her, even...." he trailed off in shock.

Kaya nodded slowly. "I... I died in this room."

Todd just stared at her. It was one thing to know she was dead, but another completely to see the proof. Of course she was the same ghost child. She hadn't even changed her hair since she died, how could he have not recognised her?

"I remember you," he said. Something about that sentence created a kind of tension in the room; something that couldn't be denied, no matter how hard he wanted to. She looked up at him, meeting his gaze squarely.

They stared at each other for a long moment, a silent communication running between the two.

It was then Kaya admitted to herself that she loved him. Of course she did. She had done since he moved into this house, ten years ago, and will do for as long as she lingered in undeath. And, if she were ever to lose her memory again, she would fall for him all over again. It was inevitable.

But what was also inevitable was that he would never return the feeling. He would never have the chance.

_'__**You are a clever couple, I'll give you that. But I am afrad, Kaya, that your journey will be coming to an end soon. And Squee's is just beginning.**__'_

A light flickered on in the house next door. Johnny's house.

Todd stood up and approached the window. As he was about to jump out, Kaya grabbed his arm, a pleading look in her eyes.

He shook her off. "One way or another, I have to end this. Or we'll _all_ die."

A deafening silence rang in the air.

Then he was gone.

Who knew silence could be so loud?

-X-

"We're too late," Tess cried as she saw a dark form enter Johnny's house. She and Devi also noticed that there was a light on in the house. A _light._

Someone else was crossing the lawn at an alarming speed, but before they could get too panicked they recognised it as Kaya. She looked so... dead. Worn out, drained, beated-down... She looked like a ghost, running across a dead lawn and into a destroyed house.

It seemed that the Shadows weren't all that interested in Pepito, because a small pack of them seemed to appear out of nowhere, led by Tenna, and began chasing them down. The two raced into the house after Todd and Kaya, then boarded up the door as swiftly as humanly possible.

Kaya was stumbling down the stairs after Squee.

Devi was almost crying, and she never did that. She was sickened and horrified that Tenna was trying to kill them both - and she was killing herself in the process. Devi could _feel_ Tenna's fingers and teeth shattering on the hard wood door as she attempted to get in.

It is a hard thing to bear - watching your best friend killing themselves in the process of trying to kill you.

-X-

Pepito could hear them scratching at the rough brickwork, trying to get at him. They knew how; all they needed was shorter claws to allow them to grip properly.

He was going to die, and he could do nothing about it. He was completely drained - of both power and energy. He was literally unable to move as the swarmed below him.

-X-

Kaya reached the bottom of the seemingly endless staircase, and stumbled to a stop when she reached the correct doorway.

Inside, Todd had a hand on a wall that was already covered in fresh blood, and he was glowing again.

He turned and locked his bloody eyes on her, face contorted into a grotesque mask of immense rage and a demented glee.

-X-

_[A/N] Oh, the suspense builds. Final confrontation next chapter. It's been a while since an update, I know. But I've become obsessed with Death Note recently, and I generally write whatever I feel like writing. I don't force chapters._

_Tell me now if you would like to see a sequel to this, because what happens next depends on it! Please review :)_


	16. Descent

_And here it is. This chapter will be short but eventful, so don't kill me please! Hmm... Just a question: Has my writing changed since the start of the story? I'm not sure, but it may have._

**Chapter 16: Descent**

_Devi was almost crying. She was sickened and horrified that Tenna was trying to kill them both - and she was killing herself in the process. Devi could feel Tenna's fingers and teeth shattering on the hard wood door as she attempted to get in._

_It is a hard thing to bear - watching your best friend killing themselves in the process of trying to kill you._

The door held firmly, and Tess was watching the windows for any sign of giving way to the Shadows. Devi was standing in the middle of the room, torn between helping Tess secure the house and fleeing.

"You don't need to be here, Devi. You shouldn't see this. Go and help Squee!" Tess seemed to have things under control, and she was right; Devi of all people shouldn't be the one to witness Tenna destroy herself. She didn't need to be told twice.

She began the long descent down the stairs.

-X-

_Kaya reached the bottom of the seemingly endless staircase, and stumbled to a stop when she reached the correct doorway._

_Inside, Todd had a hand on a wall that was already covered in fresh blood, and he was glowing again._

_He turned and locked his bloody eyes on her, face contorted into a grotesque mask of immense rage and a demented glee._

His grin never faltered; Todd turned around to face the girl with an inhuman grace. He opened his mouth and utteder a series of unfamiliar words, slowly increasing in volume until he was shrieking. Kaya felt her mind close to herself; unable to access her thoughts, her memories... herself. She was unable to move as Todd drew a pair of hooks from a rack on the wall – she swore the rack wasn't there a few seconds ago.

There was a scream from behind her, and Kaya saw Devi falling painfully down the stairs, and landing in a glowing red heap. Time seemed to slow until Devi stood up. She stayed standing, glowing, and deathly still.

Then Kaya knew what was going on. "Y-you can't control me," she said to the voice shakily. The girl stood up, holding the wall for support.

The thing laughed through Todd's mouth. "**No. But I have other ways to send you to Hell!**"

He swung the hooks at her, missing by less than an inch as she ducked and rolled. "N-no," she whimpered, tears brimming.

But she stood up.

Todd smacked her in the head with the butt of a hook. She went down again. "Please." Her voice was less than a whisper. It was a terrified breath. "Please don't do th-"

And a hook sliced through her arm.

She clenched her teeth in agony and stood up again, blood gushing from the wound, only to be thrown against the wall. Todd seemed to grow tired of their little game and ran at her, hooks raised.

That was it.

But before the blades could descend, a dark figure dived in front of her. Metal clashed on metal, and the figure launched themself onto their feet.

Johnny.

"How-" Kaya was too shocked to realise that her life had just been saved.

"I knew - that secret tunnel - would be useful - one day!" he said between blows.

Kaya watched the pair like one possessed. They were so similar in appearance, and in skill. One attacked, the other defended, then rolse were swapped. It was like an intricately designed dance, with neither getting a hit in. This could go either way. She didn't dare breathe.

From the corner of her eye Kaya saw movement, and barely had time to yell before Devi dove at them. She latched onto Johnny's legs and he fell to the floor with a thud. Devi was still glowing the Creature's brand of blood red. She was being controlled like a puppet.

Kaya took action. She forced her limbs to move, and lunged for the weapon rack. The girl threw whatever was in her hand at the woman, and whatever it was left a mark. Devi screamed.

But she wasn't the only one screaming.

Tess stumbled down the stairs, and the sound of wood splintering echoed through the basement. Before she could see what was going on in the room, Tess froze. She, too, began glowing.

The Shadows were making progress in breaking open the last remaining barrier between themselves and the live flesh that was inside. And they were all trapped. Moans and screeches rolled down the staircase, and Kaya had to force herself not to scream in terror.

The Shadow's entrance had distracted Johnny for a split second, but it was enough. The man was on the ground now, Todd clearly having the upper hand. His single knife had skittered from his hand.

"Squee, don't!" Kaya couldn't help it. She had to do something – no matter how useless and pathetic.

Todd paused - just long enough for Johnny to retrieve his weapon. But not long enough for him to use it.

Johnny brought the knife up in a last-ditch effort to block Todd's hooks, but it was too late. One was buried deep into his shoulder, severing the nerves. The man's arm went limp, and blood sprayed everywhere. His knife clattered to the ground, and Johnny hunched over in pain and defeat. Blood pooled around him at an alarming rate – the knife must have burst an artery.

Then his forehead met the floor as he collapsed limply.

A small sob escaped Kaya's lips, and Todd turned to her. He barked a laugh and approached.

"Let me save you," she pleaded. "It's my turn, dammit! Squee, let me save you!"

Todd said nothing, his grin only widening.

Each footstep took an eternity. Kaya could hear nothing but the beating of her own heart in her chest, drowning out all else. Or was it her own? Was it all in her mind? _Thud... thud... thud..._

Todd's remaining hook was raised. There was no mercy in his bloody eyes. No remorse for what he was about to do.

There was no Squee left in him at all.

_Thud... thud... thud..._

Then he froze, like a fish caught on a line. His mouth formed a small 'o' of shock. Todd's eyes were wide.

_Thud... thud... thud..._

A red stain appeared on his shirt, and he coughed once; blood sprayed Kaya's face.

His eyes swirled, and turned back to their natural chocolate brown. His face distorted, and something seemed to leave him. It let out a shriek, then disappeared into the wall. Todd let out a heavy breath.

_Thud... thud... thud..._

The tip of a knife was protruding from the small space between stomach and chest. He couldn't breathe. He couldn't see. He couldn't move.

The knife was ripped out of his flesh, and an expression of pure shock and horror was permanently fixed on his face.

He fell.

_Thud._

-X-

The Shadows were inches from dragging themselves onto the roof Pepito was resting on. Their howls were sickening.

The Antichrist could do nothing but wait for death.

-X-

The blood spilled over Johnny's hands like oil, and he was between a gasp and a sob as he caught the body before it hit the ground, breaking the otherwise hard fall. Then he fell to his knees under the weight of it all, dropping the gory blade. He had faked the crippling wound.

The sound of the metal clattering to the ground rang in Kaya's head. Her vision flickered; she knew she was going to pass out.

But the girl resisted the temptation of oblivion. Instead, she dragged herself over to Todd's corpse. Placing a hand on his bloody cheek lightly, Kaya felt like everything was breaking apart in her. He was still warm.

There was a shuffling sound behind them, and Kaya couldn't care less if they were Shadows. She was tired of it all.

Instead, Tess was standing over Johnny, a hand resting on his shoulder. She was staring at the body he was clutching.

"It was the only way," she whispered, voice hoarse. "I'm sorry. I know you cared about him."

Johnny's face hardened.

He stood, dropping Todd's body as if nothing had happened. As if he weren't covered in the boy's blood. "There's still a war raging outside," he said harshly. Then he winced in pain as his many woulds were moved. He fell to the floor again.

But the moans had stopped. There was no movement coming from upstairs at all.

"Come on," Devi coaxed. She was trying to get Kaya to move, but the girl wouldn't budge. Her expression was dead. Devi began tugging at her arm, so Kaya let herself get dragged to her feet. She was then led up the stairs like a mother would lead a three-year-old child.

Kaya no longer had the willpower to do anything on her own. If they had left withoug her, she would have died down there. Starvation, malnutrition, maybe even self-harm. Kaya just wanted it all to go away.

Tess slid an arm around Johnny's shoulders and supported him up the long staircase, letting his blood soak her shirt. "There's no place for him up there," she said comfortingly.

The top room was like the set in a horror movie. The Shadows had all collapsed, dead, and were draped over the furniture and floor.

Tenna's distorted, bloody corpse was at the front door, chunks of flesh and one hand missing. Devi shuddered and averted her gaze. She stepped outside to see the rest of the Shadows had died as well. Something unexplainable had happened in that basement - something that had destroyed the hold the Creature had over the city.

A healthy wind was blowing, signifying that the barrier was gone.

In the far distance, people yelling could be heard. The troops must have entered the city. They would all be saved.

So, instead of moving, the three of them sat down. They couldn't do anyhting else. Kaya, however, stayed standing in the place Devi had left her. She gazed at the corpses without seeing them, her mind empty.

The troops approached quickly, and the four of them were scooped up and labelled 'the only survivors so far'. Then they were taken to various cars that shipped them to working hospitals in another city.

It was over.

-X-

"_... only ten percent of the city's population remained. We are still unsure as to what happened, but we are doing the best we can to find out. This was a tragic turn of events..."_

The television was flicked off at the switch, and Pepito growled. He had blatantly refused to leave his home, which had miraculously stayed unscated during the incident – but the reception was terrible.

He would have to convince his father to get them cable.

-X-

_[A/N] I have decided that, rather than doing a seperate story, I will add the sequel to this. So there is still heaps more to come on 'Blood On The Walls' :)_


	17. Escape

_I couldn't just leave it there in fear of everyone leaving me for killing Squee! So here it is. A filler, and written quite weakly. Emotionless, I guess. I don't like it, but _something_ had to happen. The next chapter will be better, I hope :)_

**Chapter 17: Escape**

Kaya had lost track of where they had taken her. There was a hospital first, then she could have been taken to any number of places while she was sedated. She woke to glimpses of sterile smells and gleaming white, people rushing around her. But each time she woke up she was knocked out again.

From what she had overheard, she was now at an asylum. Johnny was with her, apparently, and was going to stay there. But Kaya would be shipped to some overseas research centre.

_Oh yeah,_ she thought with little to no interest. _I'm dead. Of course they'll want to know more about me._ Though why no one had just come up and asked her, she didn't know.

Something was draped over her, and the stretcher-thing the girl was lying on had been taken out into the sunlight. People could be heard around her, excited and angry voices screaming at each other. She saw camera flashes under her closed lids, and wondered vaguely if her undeath had been advertised.

She tried to keep the sun out of her eyes with a raised arm, but the people surrounding her screamed, probably from the actual proof of a living corpse, and she was promptly given another dose of sedative and rushed inside.

-X-

A bright light shone in her eyes but Kaya didn't make any move to get rid of it, however much it burned into her retinas. A reassuring hand was placed on her shoulder, but she didn't move.

"I''m Doctor Kane. Who are you?" A male voice, soft and calming. Kaya said nothing. "Do you understand what I'm saying?" Once again, the girl stayed unresponsive. "Can you talk?"

Kaya couldn't even feel her jaw, let alone make it move. She couldn't feel anything. She was numb.

The man sighed. "I feel like I'm talking to a corpse. Check if she's still alive," he ordered.

Kaya was prodded and shaken, and eventually fell off her chair. She stayed limp for a long while, and the people in the room muttered between themselves, concerned and discouraged. They all thought she really had died.

But then Kaya, unaware of her current predicament, slowly dragged herself into the corner and hugged her knees. She closed her eyes and allowed images of the fateful time in the basement swirl behind her eyes. She did nothing more; drowning in her nightmares. No one in the room knew what to do.

After a prolonged amount of time, Kane cleared his throat. "She is still unresponsive. Maybe if you bring in another survivor? She may speak to them."

Then she was sedated once more.

-X-

Johnny's face was dark as he was placed in front of the corpse.

Doctor Kane was outside the room, watching where this would go. He had given specific instructions to Johnny, telling him what he needed to find out.

Johnny's face was blank. "So, they tell me you _have_ died."

Kaya nodded once, face just as expressionless as Johnny's. "Then I guess that's what let us through after all."

They said nothing more. Kane pressed a button and his voice echoed through the room, obviously trying to sound calmer than he was. "What are you talking about?"

Kaya looked to the one-sided mirror and stared straight into Kane's eyes. She couldn't tell herself how she knew where he was - she just did. And her gaze was piercing. Kane stepped backwards and took his finger off the button. Then Kaya turned her glare to Johnny, and her eyes turned dead once more.

Her voice was nothing more than a broken whisper. "Why did you kill him?"

Johnny stiffened and said nothing.

"I could have saved him. I could have fixed him. Why?"

"This isn't the time or the place to be discussing this," he hissed. "But if you insist on our conversation being advertised to the world, then by all means, continue. I, for one, do not appreciate all the attention I have been getting since the... incident."

Kaya's eyes were burning, and something in her demeanour changed. She looked... _murderous._ The girl lunged at Johnny, teeth bared like a tortured animal, who barely had time to react.

But, for at least the fifth time that day, she was forcefully sedated.

-X-

Tomorrow they were going to send her overseas. She didn't hear where.

But Kaya didn't want to go. She refused to leave the town in which her life had been rebuilt, and then torn down again. It wasn't physically possible for her to go so far away. The very thought left her broken and sobbing in a corner.

So she escaped.

Kaya left her bed in the dead of night, sliding towards the door. Her nursemaid was due in a few minutes, sent every three hours to check up on the girl, and Kaya was going to be ready.

The door creaked open slowly, and the nursemaid made a small surprised noise as she noticed that Kaya was no longer in the room. The woman backed out slightly, ready to sound the alarm, when Kaya dropped from her precarious perch on the top of the doorframe and landed on the nursemaid's head. Her neck snapped and the woman slid to the ground noiselessly, followed by Kaya who landed on her feet. The girl searched the woman's body for a small ring of keys, to what she was unsure, and was satisfied to come up with a taser as well. Then she sprinted out of the room, shutting the door behind her, and made her way towards the exit.

From there, Kaya met little opposition. The few people she met - visitor or staff - were floored with the taser, and her progress had been extremely fast.

But from around the corner, she heard people talking in low, panicked voices. She dared to peek around, and saw a small group of people surrounding what looked like the remains of a corpse. Blood was everywhere, and Kaya could see that it had been a staff member.

She used the diversion to slip by them all, unnoticed, and saw with mild interest that half a bloody footprint was close to the wall. She followed the general direction it was headed, only to find another freash and undiscovered corpse.

Kaya followed the trail of bodies to the foyer, where there was not a living soul left. Someone had massacred the lot of them, probably in order to escape. Something had been painted on the wall in blood - it looked vaguely like... a Shadow. That and the fact that they hadn't been caught yet left Kaya wondering if Johnny was responsible. She flinched as she saw movement from the corner of her eye, but sighed in relief as she saw that she had been mistaken. A rat was merely munching on the receptionist's corpse.

Kaya left the bloody wreckage, unaffected by the carnage, and ran into the sunlight. She followed the fresh bloody footprints to a road, which led towards the destroyed town she had come from.

The girl didn't need to eat. She didn't need to sleep. She just kept walking, bent on making it back. She didn't know what she would do when she got there - all she knew was that she had to get back. There was no other option for her. Kaya stayed on the right path, following the road and making no effort to hide herself.

As the days passed, it was obvious that Johnny was taking the same path she was. It became clear after the third body she had stepped over.

She wondered why he hadn't been caught yet - which led her to ask herself why she herself had not been dragged back to the asylum as well. But she pushed that thought aside, only grateful that it hadn't happened yet.

She would make it back if it killed her.


	18. Static

_I am unimpressed with the last chapter, and really hope this one will be better as it plays a major role in the plot. Here's hoping, no?_

_Now I remember why I was going to separate Blood On The Walls from its sequel - The sequel will be a Romance. I guess I'll have to change the genre now. Sorry :p_

**Chapter 18: Static**

Kaya wondered how long exactly she had been asleep. The town looked almost new - apart from the periodic scribblings of graffiti and the already-gathering dirt. Construction sites were all over the place, rebuilding the structures that had fallen during the disaster, but apart from that the place looked nothing like the girl had first seen it. People were walking busily along the sidewalk as if nothing had happened.

She followed the crowd, allowing herself to be pushed and pulled along until she realised exactly where she was. Then her mind went scarily blank.

Kaya was slumped limply against the stone wall, staring across the empty street at the house she loved and loathed so much. The place in which so much had happened to destroy the last remaining scraps of life she had been able to gather in the scant week she had been with Squee.

The instant she had arrived at her destination, Kaya had lost everything that drove her to travel there. She had no purpose. And now, without a motive, she had no refuge in the recesses of her mind that would save her from remembering what had happened.

She hadn't blinked in at least thirty minutes. "He's still in there. He's still there. Squee is still down there..." The girl chanted to herself like it was a mantra; not even trying to quell the pain that was rapidly welling up in her chest. Because it was true; no one had found his body. He _was_ still down there, body rotted beyond recognition. His blood still coated the hardwood floor where he lay... Coated the hands of the man that had killed him...

And Kaya broke down. Again. Gravity dragged her down the wall and landed on the concrete, hugging her knees. Now she wasn't chanting; she was blubbering and stutterng incoherently, unsure as to what she was trying to say or who she was trying to talk to. Tears ran down her cold, hollow cheeks and she could do nothing but let it happen.

There she stayed.

Days passed, and Kaya continued to stare at the house. She had fully convinced herself to expect it would disappear completely if she took her eyes off it. And if the house disappeared, then Squee disappeared. Forever. At least now, when she knew he was still there, she could imagine him walking out the door to greet her. Taking her hand and leading her away from this horrific reality.

Now that there were no tears left inside her to cry, she tried to let herself drift into the oblivion of death. People passed her, and she went unnoticed by all of them. No one cared.

Once, someone had tried to talk to her. A man, in his early fifties it seemed, had knelt beside her and asked through his thick beard why she was so down. Kaya didn't reply. The man attempted to coax a response out of her, but none came. So he got up and left.

She didn't notice, but the man had passed that spot every day for three more days until he finally spoke again.

Kaya felt someone kneel beside her once more. She didn't even glance at the figure; still staring at the house across the road. She had even stopped thinking. Now she just felt. Pain, grief, horror, terror, and a choking depression were all she had.

The man grinned toothily. His voice had a strong accent, but from where, Kaya couldn't place. "Ho there, lass. Ye gonna be movin' anytime soon?"

Kaya hardly noticed he was there.

His tone softened some. "Do ye even _have _any place t' go, lass? Do ye have no friends or relatives o' sorts?"

This time the girl shook her head. She hardly noticed the movement, though her neck cracked painfully.

"Ye canna stay here yer whole life, now. What are ye doin'?"

For the first time in weeks, she spoke. Her voice was hoarse from disuse, and it took the man some time to decipher what she said. "Waiting for death." She may as well have stated that she were waiting for a taxi, the way she said it.

The man was taken aback. He put a hand on her shoulder, like he was about to shake her out of her trance. "Look lass, there's no way ye can starve yerself like this. Death is no fine thing! Ye canna wait for it t' claim ye..."

The rest of what he said was just noise. The logic of that last sentence struck her so harshly it actually made her wince. _Of course_ death wouldn't just come for her. Death was a sick bastard that waited for those that were unwilling and unprepared - and Kaya was more than ready for it. She welcomed it. Which meant that Death wouldn't come looking for her.

So she had to go search for it.

She fell into his arms and whispered a thankyou, and the man hesitantly helped her up.

Without another word, Kaya turned. The man seemed pleased. "There ye go, lass. Ye go back to yer family now, and I can rest peacefully knowin' I helped ye find yer way." With a last wave, the man left Kaya to her own devices. He was sure she would return to her parents, who had missed her dearly, and she would go back to school and see her friends again. She would be happy that he had helped her out of the delusion that death would solve her problems. Of course, he wasn't nearly observant enough to notice the haunted look in her eyes, or the determined set of her jaw.

Another thing he didn't notice was that she had stolen his belt.

Kaya left the house, and her life, behind as she wandered into the park.

-X-

The doorbell rang at house number 666.

A woman opened it shyly, rosary dangling from her neck. Her smile was sickeningly sweet as she asked who it was.

"Get your son NOW." Johnny was reluctant to be doing this, but it was necessary.

The woman looked a little flustered. "Oh, okay then. Pepito darling, you have a friend here to see you!" she called back into the house. There was a scuffling and a crash, and a string of Spanish curses followed soon after, then something about a broken PlayStation and stupid parents. The owner of the voice approached the door.

"Yes?" Pepito's expression told Johnny that he would prefer to be back playing his video games than answering to someone who was most likely not a friend of his at all.

Rather than saying a word, Johnny grabbed the Antichrist's arm and dragged him outside. His mother waved and told him to have fun.

When they got to the sidewalk, Pepito jerked out of Johnny's hold. "What is the meaning of this?" he hissed.

Johnny kept walking. "You have to fix this. Now."

"Fix what, exactly?"

The man turned, expression deadly. "Fix _her._"

Pepito's eyes widened. "Don't tell me..."

"I am afraid that it would be lying if I told you otherwise. Now get her _down_ before anyone _else_ finds her."

"Idiot girl," the Antichrist muttered under his breath. "Why do you expect me to help her?"

Johnny stopped at the entrance to the small, empty plane of grass and trees. His voice was low. "Because I killed... _him_, and now she's trying to kill herself because of it. Do you really think she would accept my help? However reluctant I am to _give_ it, that is. We shouldn't let anyone know about what happened while the barrier was up - the nightmares it would induce will give the Creature power - and I have a feeling that people would want to know why a dead and hanging corpse won't stop crying."

Pepito sighed heavily. "Fine." And then he disappeared into the trees, muttering to himself all the way.

-X-

Kaya looked worse than she ever had during the time with the barrier. She was malnourished and feather-light, and her skin was a strange pallor of grey.

Pepito ushered her out of the park, the charred remains of a cheap belt in one hand ahd her arm in the other, only to see that Johnny had already left. He scanned the area cursed violently, turning to the girl.

"If I am forced to get your suicidal ass out of a tree again, I will send you to Hell myself. Do _not_ follow me." Then he turned and stalked back to his house, abandoning her to the cruel world.

-X-

The doorbell rang at house number 666. Again.

And the next thing he knew, Kaya was being placed on the couch next to the Antichrist by his mother. "She says she wanted to talk to you," the woman said with a smirk.

"Mother, why did you even let her in?" Pepito's tone was annoyed, but she was already in the kitchen. He sighed.

"I had nowhere else to go," Kaya whispered.

"And I told you not to follow me!"

The girl said nothing more, so Pepito stood. He grabbed her arm and hauled her to her feet, then guided her roughly to the front door. She saw where they were going and her knees locked like a startled colt's. She jerked her body around, but Pepito was still holding her arm tightly. There was a sickly ripping noise as the girl's arm was completely removed from her body.

She stared at it with mild fascination, then fell to the floor in a dead faint.

Pepito had to admit that he was startled; he didn't really expect to remove her arm. After a second's panic, he seized her limp body and dragged it away from the kitchen, where his mother was cooking dinner, and into the hallway.

"Dismembering things _is_ fun, but I would prefer it if you refrained from removing my limbs." Kaya's voice was slurred, and the Antichrist realised that she was conscious again.

He held her arm out to her. "Doesn't that _hurt_?"

The girl shook her head slowly. "No," she said, sounding a little shocked. "... It doesn't." She then took her limb and held it to the stump. Her flesh reacted instantly, skin coiling around the wound. There was a snap as the bones were lodged into place. Then she giggled as she moved her fingers.

Pepito looked like he was going to be sick. "K-Kaya... I think you're decomposing."

"Oh."

"... Get out of my house."

"Okay."

-X-

_"__**Go back to sleep, Todd.**__" The voice belonged to the Creature. It came from everywhere and nowhere. It wasn't inside his head, but it wasn't an actual sound either._

_His voice was slurred and hoarse. "S-sleep?"_

_"__**Or maybe, just maybe, you want to wake up.**__"_

_"What are you talking about?" Todd's voice was pleading. "Aren't I... Aren't I dead?"_

_"__**But if you want to do that... some changes must be made,**__" the voice continued as if Todd hadn't spoken. Then it laughed. And laughed, and laughed, and laughed. It was a haunting sound that Todd would hear in his nightmares.  
_

_The boy's jaw tightened as the white noise entered the back of his mind. It was annoying at first, but the sound deepened and echoed too rapidly. Then something flashed behind his eyes; it was his parents. His mother's rare moments of love and care, before everything in his life was so horribly messed up. His father's reassuring smile..._

_Then the noise, as if it were a living being, tore the memory to shreds. Todd cried out in pain. His mother and father... He killed them... Or did he? Did he even have parents? Who... Who were they..._

_Then there was the memory of his childhood. The static consumed it as if it were fire, the memory dry leaves. His name... He had to remember..._

_And it went on. Each and every aspect of Todd's being, destroyed. Starting from his earliest memories and working its way through his subconsciousness until the Creature had obliterated everything. Each memory pained him to see, and he was dragged under in waves of agony as they were torn apart in front of him.  
_

_Before the Creature got any further, Todd realised something. "You... This is what you did to Kaya, isn't it? And Nny..." he growled. "He died, didn't he? Twice. Nny died twice... and he's still alive... I-I don't want..." His mind was working against him now, refusing to let him say more. Or was that the static? He couldn't tell what was real from what was simply his mind. Maybe this was all a dream? He died... Did he die...?_

_There was a girl. She was so... so dependent on someone... something, maybe... Then she was covered in blood, her sunken eyes wide with terror as he..._

_"D-did I really...?" Todd didn't want to kill. He never wanted to kill... Let alone his friends..._

_Now he was the one covered in blood, hooks in hand, and running. Running from...? No. Running towards. Running to the Creature obediently like a good little dog. A homicidal dog, but a dog nonetheless._

_Then it was gone, too._

_"__**There we go. Now, Todd. You are ready.**__" The Creature laughed again. "__**Just a few tips before you leave, eh? You deserve as much.**__" It just wouldn't stop laughing, and Todd wished he could make himself ask what was so amusing. But alas, he was frozen. "__**Todd Casil, you cannot be caught. No matter what you do, no one but your victims will know of your... adventures. You will not age, as to grow old means to change. And we can't have that, can we? And Todd Casil... You cannot die. You will be my slave forever, and nothing you do can change that. You have a job to do, and I expect it will be done expertly. You show much promise. More so even than the last one...**__"_

_Then Todd shuddered as the life was forced back into his body._

He gasped as stagnant air entered his lungs for the first time in months, clutching the place where he received the fatal wound. The gaping hole was writing with maggots, as was his mouth and nose... But slowly, slowly, they dropped out of him. Something was making him whole again... His skin returned from dark and leathery to a soft pale pink, and he saw his stomach inflate as if it had been flattened at some point during his decomposition. Then the stab wound seared with pain, and he saw with a sick fascination that the wound was closing up. The bloody stains on his clothing and the rip showing where the knife had entered and left his body stayed.

He lay in a pool of his own blood, now crawling with fat maggots, that air thick with flies, for what felt like an eternity, shuddering. Todd was trying to remember... but it only came in unintelligible flashes. There was something about defiance... and a lot of it... and punishment for said action. The Shadows... He even remembered their name. He had never known before - this was a warning. _They_ were going to happen upon him again if he failed.

Todd sat up slowly, trying to avoid crushing the writing masses, and searched his mind to the deepest crevice.

_Nothing._

The boy was alone in his mind. Finally.

... But at what cost? He couldn't remember. He... he couldn't remember anything... Todd felt like crying. It was a horrible feeling, to know something vital is just out of your grasp. He knew it was _there_, but he couldn't reach it. His mind. Who he used to be. He clenched his teeth and tried to get rid of the feeling.

There was nothing left of Todd Casil. There was only the being the Creature had allowed - a servant. That was all Todd was made to be. And there was no use fighting it.

But he could remember one thing.

_Fairy tales._

His mind was working overtime, clutching onto the last thing he had of himself. _Fairy tales... Pure fiction created for the entertainment of small children... Filled with lies that cripple the youngest of minds. Mine was one of those minds... I used to think that things would get better. I used to think that I would get my happy ending... eventually... But, no matter how hard I may try, the story will go on. It could be pleasant, or it could be horrible beyond belief. Either way, you won't be happy forever. It always ends at some point._

It was like he wasn't the one thinking at all. It was already there, and being said by someone else. Todd glanced back at the empty wall, his gaze pure venom. It had taken everything away from him - even the few little things he held close to him. But he couldn't even remember what they were. He then turned away to stare into the dark abyss that awaited his ascent.

_...I am the exception, because my story in particular will never end. And I cannot change, because change means to move on. And that is something I am now incapable of doing. I am past the point of no return, and there is no hope for me to be able to fix what has happened. I can say this now, and say it truthfully:_

_There are no happy endings,_ he thought vehemently._ There is no such thing as 'Happily Ever After'._

He mounted the long stairway like one possessed, retrieving his twin hooks and holding them loosely by his side. Todd Casil climbed the stairs to acquire the first fresh coat of blood.

-X-

_**End of Part I**_


End file.
